Parc Guell and other bits

This was our last day, so we set off to do whatever we had missed.

In the morning, we went to the Sant Pere area, and successfully got completely lost. this had the positive side effect that we saw a wonderful area we would have missed, and in particular, the church that gives the area it's name. It has no tourists, and from the outside, it's just plain brick walls, but go in and it's a different matter. It's huge, dark, and built completely of domes and apses: so unlike anything in England. there are no tourists, just one of the finest buildings in the city (but in no way ostentatious).

After that, we found our way eventually to the Art Deco Palau de Musica Catalonia (the name gives away what it is I guess). Sadly, we couldn't get in as you have to book tours in advance. But the outside is very special, dramatic.

Maybe the one place that most reflects how Barcelonans think is this market. If we build a market in Oldham, we will rip up whatever was there, and build a big shed.

The Barcelonans, though, excavated the site, found an old monastery, preserved it with a viewing gallery and built it into a new market, which is a dramatic building in its own right.

Anyway, finally we moved on to the Parc Guell, probably the second most famous bit of the city. It's all full of tourists, but a bit anarchic at the same time, especially up the hill.

We were lucky enough also to spot some unusual wildlife. It's not often you can see a herd of boxes feeding, but here I was able to get quite close for this picture

But anyway, then we got to the pretty bits.

A nice example piece of tessalated flooring

The house at the top end.

And at the bottom of the park, a couple of Gaudi's most fairytale buildings still look fantastic (testament to the huge team of workers more than Gaudi's methods, I think!)