Vacation Part III: Parks & Paella

Going back to the first day in Barcelona now. Because the line for the cathedral was super long, we ended up going to Park Güell instead. The park is another of Gaudí's famous works, and was much more impressive than I had expected. From the entrance, all you can really see is this neat stairway and the building with the columns above. 

It was pretty cool, don't get me wrong, but on a completely different scale from the Cathedral. 

This guy is neat too:

But once you climb the stairs (and get past all these guys)

Then you can really start to see the scope of the park. We spent practically the whole afternoon here, and definitely did not see it all. 

From the top of the columns-building you can see a lot of the city (the park is atop a hill, and getting there from the metro is a trek in and of itself) but there are better views to be had from other places. The blue tower marks the entrance to the park and is topped with Gaudí's trademark four-armed cross.

And a detail of the mosaics. I wonder if the pottery was painted and broken specifically for this project, or if the artists actually went out and found old pottery to use.

Once you get into the park a little, you start to see structures like this all over the place.

The vertical columns are all reminiscent of the different kinds of trees growing in the park. And like real trees, there were tons of birds living in them. Another fun fact: One of the season finales of America's Next Top Model (you know, the part of the show where they send the final five contestants off to some foreign country for some more "exotic" photo shoots and to up the drama/stress/reward the finalists) was shot here, under these arches, all lit up with lights and TV magic. I can only imagine what the Spaniards thought about these crazy, strangely-proportioned American girls flopping around looking moody in their park.

There were more buskers here as well, and some of them really added to the abandoned jungle ruins feel of the place.

Later we climbed to the top of the hill, where a little crowd had gathered to watch the sunset. Unfortunately it was cloudy, but the view was awesome anyway.

After a brief stop at the hostel, we set out in search of paella, but the place the girl at the reception desk suggested was full, so we went to a real fancy place instead, kind of by accident. I tried jamón ibérico for the first time, and it was nice. I'm no ham connoisseur, but I didn't think it was quite worth all the hype. But maybe I'll have to try it again elsewhere to compare. 

We tried again the next day for paella for lunch, and were successful!

Oh my goodness it was amazing, definitely worth the recommendation. Even between the four of us we couldn't finish the whole thing, though it wasn't for lack of trying. This was the first paella I've had in Spain, but really it was pretty similar to what I've had at home. I'd never eaten a crawdad before however, and it was more complicated and messy than I was expecting.