Our big adventure into the city began at the train station in Sitges, a 4 or 5 block walk from the hotel. It´s a 40 minute ride into the center of the city. The line for Casa Mila, a Gaudi creation, was 30 min. long, so we hopped on the Turista Bus, plugged in our earphones and started our English language trip through the city. Picked out the areas we wanted to explore on foot . . . Gene wanted to see the Maritime Museum and my choice was the Parc Gruell.
Our bus took us from the city center, over to the Olympic Stadium (1992) and down to the harbor. Here we hopped off to see the museum. The two most interesting features were the submarines (of course) built in the 1859-1875 era. Both were made of wood, had little portholes and only carried a few men. They looked like elongated footballs. The museum also had a huge oar powered barge over 200´long, highly decorated with gilt and carvings.
After changing busses downtown to the red line (there are three different circuits included in your ticket) we headed uphill to Parc Gruell. Barcelona stretches out from the sea up to the surrounding mountains and the park sits in the foothills. Gaudi created this Alice in Wonderland vision over 100 years ago. It´s hard to describe except to say there are ceramic tiled creatures and creations everywhere. Dragons, columns, entry houses with tile roofs, stairways, benches, etc., etc. I wonder if Tracy, who did the tiled wall in our backyard, has seen it in person. It makes our wall seem only a ¨little Gaudi¨. Another beautiful Gaudi creations, that is still under construction, is the Sangrada Familia church with many spires strething skyward, and ultra modern sculptures. This church I can´t described but will try to post photos when I get home.
After completing the bus ride and finding our way to the train station, we joined the crowd of workers heading home. It was standing room only on the train back to Sitges.
Today is Tuesday and we will stop being turistas for awhile and become vacationers, finding a place to stay and relax in the sun for a few days as we wind our way back down the coast toward Malaga and Torremolinos.
2 comments:
Hi, we're in Antwerp, Belgium now. Went to a beautiful cathedral of the Virgin Mary today with huge, huge paintings by Rubens. We also went to the Maritime Museum where we learned about the Red Line, the ships that took emigrants to America. We have a nice condo and I have a comfortable air bed. More later.....CB
Good. Glad you made it to Belgium. Has it been raining. We saw green parrots flying around Torremolinos today.
Post a Comment