Tours of Barcelona: Park Guell, A Visionary's Whim

Like the water that flows through these small gargoyles or spouts connected to a gutter, visitors of all kinds come and go as part of the many Tours of Barcelona to enjoy the architectural design of a master applied to the natural environment of the mountain, in other less pompous words, Park Guell, the whim of a visionary architect, Antonio Gaudi, who was commissioned by Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi, Count, textile industry businessman, art patron and friend.

Following the Count's idea he was supposed to build a luxury garden city made of private plots surrounded by common greens, based upon a British model by Ebenezer Howard thus the name Park and not Parc as in Catalan. The project was interrupted in 1914. Only three plots had been sold from a total amount of 60. The estate was sold in 1918 by Eusebi's heirs to the city council and became a public park.

Recommended: Some good tips for a Tour in Barcelona can be found in the travel section of The New York Times as Fodor's Choice

Park Güell: A Personal Approach

Here is a sort of mixture between reality and canvas. I exaggerated the frame around the main subject which is the entrance to Park Güell by Gaudi. 

 It looks better from the distance I guess. I have a long way to go till I learn photography. 

 Have a nice weekend everybody.

Sagrada Familia: Carrying the Cross

Once more I show you a scene from the Passion of Christ (not the film) at Sagrada Familia and one more time I am in a hurry. I am devoting more time to the pictures than to the post itself. As a matter of fact this is a photoblog not a journal or a diary. On the other hand, I know many of you are fed up with touristic pictures but some others can see beyond the obvious and admire the unrefutable beauty of Catalan patrimony. This picture is dedicated to architecture lovers. Are we daily bloggers carrying our own cross for the sake of others? That I leave up to you, but believe me sometimes it feels like redemption.