Park Guell

Our last day in Barcelona and Europe! Park Guell was to be our final sightseeing adventure with tickets to enter the famous Gaudi park at 11am. That gave us plenty of time to pack all of our belongings up and clean the apartment. Thankfully we were able to leave our bags there until 2pm.

In the early 1900's Eusebi Guell gave Gaudi a brief to develop an estate for well-off families on a large property in Muntanya Pelada (bare mountain). With splendid views over Barcelona to the sea and the clean air, Guell thought that the 60 triangular plots on the estate would be popular.

However by 1914, due to a lack of buyers, the works were abandoned with only 2 of the 60 houses being built. Guell lived in the existing mansion (now a school) while Gaudi along with his family and father bought one of the new houses. Thus the park became a large private garden hosting civic events in the main square. In 1918, Guell died and the estate was bought by the city council. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

We spent a few hours exploring and relaxing in the park. It's an interesting place.