EUROPE 2022

 

BARCELONA - TOUR 2

Our second tour started at Sagrada Familia.  This structure was designed by Gaudi and has been under construction since 1882.  It started out being funded by donations and now is funded by ticket and merchandising sales.  Gaudi died in a street accident in June, 1926 - he was hit by a tram.  He was 73 years old and at that period of his life, he was shabbily dressed and had no identification so he was not recognized at the scene of the accident.  Plans were to finish building Sagrada Familia in 2026 - 100 years after Gaudi died; Covid has now pushed that out to 2029.  These pictures are just a snippet of the carvings on the facades.

These were taken by our tour guide in the gardens across from the cathedral.

This is the eastern facade of Sagrada Familia which represents the birth of Christ.

This is a close up of the symbols of wheat and grapes to the left of the eastern facade which represent the communion wafer and wine.  I took this picture as we were walking down from the Passion Tower.  There must have been about 500 narrow stairs and my poor knees felt every one of them.

Close up of the birth of Christ.

The western facade represents the crucifixion of Christ.

Close up of the crucifixion.

The stained glass windows inside the cathedral are phenomenal, especially when the sun hits them.  They were purposely designed without any writing or portrayals on them.

This is the view from what will eventually be the main entrance to the cathedral.

Close up of the heptagon canopy which features wheat and grapes representing the bread and wine in the sacrament of communion.

The Lord's Prayer, each line in a different language.

View of the top of the columns which are structured to look like trees with their branches.

Two views from inside the Passion tower.  We took an elevator up and had to walk down a very narrow circular staircase.  It took about twelve to fifteen minutes to walk down.

From Sagrada Familia, we went to the newer section of downtown Barcelona to view some different buildings.

Casa Batllo Gaudi is a previously built house and was owned by the Battlo family who commissioned Gaudi to redesign the building in 1904.  It has changed hands and been refurbished several times,  and is now open to the general public as a museum of sorts.

The design of the Casa Batllo Gaudi is believed to have been based on a character called The Joker - different from the Joker we know in movies, and looking more like the joker in a deck of cards.  The shape of the balconies looks like the mask this character used.

These homes were built by other architects and they competed for awards from the Barcelona City Council.  This period is known as the 'Bone of Contention' and the buildings are called the Buildings of Discord.

This building is known as La Pedrera (The Stone Quarry) because of its rough hewn appearance.  It was the last private residence designed by Gaudi and was commissioned in 1906 by private owners.

We thought we'd rent a bike and take a ride around the city......NOT!  Simply posing!

Among the Roman ruins in the old part of the city, four buildings are so close together that they form a cross in the sky.

And so we come to the end of our three week vacation which was most enjoyable.  We're thankful to be heading home.

EUROPE 2022

 BARCELONA - TOUR 1

A cute opportunity presented itself when we landed at Barcelona airport.  The picture is self-explanatory; check out the writing and the cartoon characters on the plane.

We did a half day tour of Barcelona which started with the Mirador de l'Alcalde gardens in the north of Barcelona.  From there, you have a lovely view of the city and the port.  A portion of the ground of these gardens is made from recycled material such as broken tiles, bottle tops, broken glass, old gears, broken bricks and several other types of materials.  Here are a few pictures of the ground.

This last one has incorporated what looks like butterflies....or airplanes.....take your pick!

A view of the port where the cruise ships dock.

Our tour guide who is also a photographer, took this one at the gardens.

From the north, we went downtown where our guide parked in an underground parking lot.  I never thought I would ever want to take a picture of underground parking but this blew us away.

There are lights built into conduits along the ceilings which show the spots that are available and those which are not....Blue for available handicap spots; green for regular available spots and red for spots already taken (the red lights don't present well in the picture). 

We stopped at the Boqueria Market off La Ramblas.  You would think there would be a fishy smell at this seafood stand but there wasn't.  We all commented on how different it was to North America.

Our next stop was at Park Guell.  This park was initially intended to have seventy-three homes built in it but the concept was not popular among the rich so only one home was built.  Gaudi was commissioned to design the park.

A view of a portion of the city from the park.  Sagrada Familia cathedral can be seen with the crane at the top and the two Olympic Towers are just to the right.

This is the only home which was built and it is still in private hands.  There are three different types of architecture evident - Moor at the very top, Medieval in the centre roof and Chinese above the windows (it looks like two triangular designs incorporating the green colour).

The viaducts supporting the roadways for horse and carriages back in the day.

A view from outside the viaducts.  Gaudi incorporated nature and recycling into his designs; the stones used for building the viaducts were from the park itself when the roadway was being 'cut'.  The columns of the viaducts are meant to look like palm trees.

This plaza was built for residents to socialize with each other.  The benches, which are surprisingly comfortable, are made of broken tiles, glass and ceramic and have holes built into them which were meant to direct water into a filtering system below the plaza.  There are also holes built into the plaza itself which were also meant to do the same thing.

This creation on the ceiling underneath the plaza represents one of four seasons.

And now it's photo-bombed by us and our tour guide.

Although these two houses are in the Park, neither was designed by Gaudi.  

EUROPE 2022

 NEUSCHWANSTEIN & OBERAMMERGAU

We passed some lovey scenery on our way from Innsbruck to Neuschwanstein.  Here are a couple of pictures which made the trip enjoyable.

The purpose of our visit to Neuschwanstein was to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is not really a castle as it was unfinished and by definition, did not have the ability to defend itself; so for purposes of this blog, we will call it a palace.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures despite having to climb 180 stairs, so the pictures are from outside the palace.

The third picture shows a bridge to the palace; the bridge was closed.  The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II as a personal retreat and in honour of his friend Richard Wagner (yes, the one who wrote music).  Ludwig chose to pay for the palace from his personal fortune and by extensive borrowing rather than using public funds.  Ludwig hated people, was arrested for being a madman and died leaving a great deal of debt.  It took his family about 25 years to repay his debt.

The six gargoyles under the last balcony (and just above the door) represent the stone masons who took the stones up the hill to build the palace.

View from the palace.

Time to show our faces!

Another view from the balcony.

The yellow building is Ludwig's father's castle.

A hotel in the town of Nueschwanstein.

OBERAMMERAGAU

We spent two nights in the town of Oberammergau, the main purpose of which was to see the passion play put on live by the townspeople, which includes live animals.  Unfortunately, we could not take pictures so all I can tell you is that it was fantastic and worth the trip.  It was so realistic, I was in tears at certain points.  The acting was excellent, as was the choir, the orchestra and acoustics.  I wouldn't do it justice to try and describe it any further.  Other than the play, the town has your typical tourists shops and hotels.  Many of the buildings have painted frescoes, some of which depict biblical scenes.  Here are a few!

This one is probably the most famous/popular one of all - Pilate's house.

A close up of Pilate's house fresco.

Alas, all I can offer you is a picture of the theatre stage before the start of the play.