The photos below are what we saw.
The
train left from Atocha station, which as you can see is a very
nice place, but also very big. It is the primary station
in Madrid.
There
were some very nice plants in the interior garden.
This was
not our train, but ours was of similar design with the shovel
nose. At maximum speed we were traveling at 300kph, about
185mph. It was smooth and quiet.
I
spotted this cool bridge from the window of the train at the
first stop from Madrid. I did not note the city name,
however.
Just
past the bridge, I got a view of this nice structure on the
hill. It looks more like a church than a castle, but since
I was not sure what city we were in, it is tough to say.
When we
booked our train seats, we discovered that we were late to the
party. The only seats available were in First Class, so we
took them. The whole train was full!
Kathleen
had booked us a great room in a very nice hotel on Catalonia
Plaza in the center of town. This is the view out our
window of the plaza.
Across
the plaza there was plenty of construction in progress.
The blue building had a shroud that had designs painted on it to
disguise the ongoing construction.
Next
morning, we headed to Sagrada Familia for a tour.
Full. Next we tried Guell Park. Full. At the
park, we could walk around for free, so we decided that was an
acceptable fall-back and headed out. Antoni Gaudi was
contracted to design the structures in the park. This is
one of Gaudi's structures.
Gaudi is
famous for designing "odd" buildings. I would say this
qualifies.
A
walkway built above the park.
The
distortion of a wide angle lens did odd things to an odd
structure. Of course, the columns were not vertical
anyway, but you can judge the distortion my the people.
The
offset in the columns is visible in the photos above. This
is a very odd structure, like something from Middle Earth.
A
different walkway.
Nice
iron work on the balcony.
The
stones look like scales on a reptile.
Another
walkway built into the cliff face.
The
upper bell tower of one of Gaudi's buildings.
Gaudi
likely lived in this house; it has a commanding view of the
valley below.
I am
assuming that the name means "salvation".
Gaudi's
masterpiece "Sagrada Familia" church in downtown was visible
from the park. The structure is still unfinished but as
the cranes indicate, construction is continuing.
Another
odd, but much more modern, building in downtown.
There
were thistles in bloom along the trail.
We
returned to the hotel and had lunch in the courtyard. Old
buildings were visible from the seating area. The hotel,
however, was contemporary.
We went
up to the 10th floor of the hotel and there was an observation
area where we got a nice view of the Barcelona skyline.
Above is one of the cathedrals in the Gothic section of
downtown.
Previous Adventure | ||
Trip Home Page |
Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2017, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.