Gaudi and the beach

Today I went to Parque Güell here in Barcelona. For those of you who don´t know its a park that Antonio Gaudi developed. It has lots of paths and bridges and a plaza all done in a very typical Gaudi style. (whimsical curved forms with lots of colorful tiling and not a vertical column to be found). Originally Gaudi was commissioned to create the space as the roads and paths for a high end housing complex that was to be built here but the houses were never built and so the paths were used in the park instead. The house that Gaudi lived in until his death is also in the park.

Once again I found it nice to be in a decent sized park among trees. I love all the plazas here in spain but I am noticing I really miss the parks that we have in Seattle. They have a bit more vegetation and are more wild than the plazas here. The downside to this park is that being that Gaudi created it was mobbed with tourists. It could also be because we were there at prime visiting hours. (My intentions to get an early start this morning fell by the wayside.)

So after a productive morning of wandering through a park, the austrailian girl that was hanging out with me and I decided the best way to recover would be to go to the beach. (yes, wandering through a park can be exhausting). So we went to check out the barcelona beach. It was quite a nice beach with surprisingly few speedos. But there were some rag tag travelers next to us smoking a suspicious substance and sleeping on their luggage. The best part was that said luggage included their cat. Attached to one of the bags with a leash. He looked content as can be to be there. Quite the sight.

So that was my "busy" day of traveling today. Tomorrow I have booked my first guided tour to the monestary Mont Serrat near here I have to be ready at 9am (early for spain). There´s supposed to be lots of nice hiking trails up in the hills and I´m hoping to do some hiking while there (provdied my fear of snakes doesn´t prevent me from venturing too far alone).