Park Guell

The entry seemed to be up 3 flights of steep steps. Then we found that it was all the way down again to get to the real entry. Quite crowded, hot, terrain uneven and handrails "wavy" as per its creator Antonio Gaudi. Neither of us enjoyed it until we paid the additional €4 admission to get in to home Gaudi lived in for 20 years; one of only two that were built on this failed suburban development in the country in 1910. This gave us some perspective on this legendary modernist architect. He lived there with his father and niece who both passed away within a few years and then he was helped by the Carmelite nuns who kept house for him while he primarily devoted his attention to the construction of the Sagrada Familia. Despite designing fanciful homes for the wealthy; he lived a "austere religious lifestyle". He moved into the cathedral after the failed subdivision was bought by the City for a Park. Sadly, he was hit by a tram and it took three days for those who new him to locate him in hospital; he had been taken for a destitute.Read more