After visiting La Sagrada Familia and having lunch, we took a taxi up to Parc Guell.  The park is a relatively compact 12 hectares, as it is not super wide, but instead just goes higher and higher up the hill.  It is a beautiful area, and was actually not mega crowded when we went around 3pm.  I also booked tickets in advance for this experience to avoid waiting in lines.  You can do so on their website, and you can get general admission or a guided tour. We didn’t do the guided tour this time, but I think that maybe we would’ve gotten more out of our visit if we did.

When you arrive you are greeted by two cute little cottages that look like they are gingerbread houses.  They have light rooftops and look like they come out of a Tim Burton movie.  You turn to the right and go in through the gates and pretty much start climbing right away.  Everything looks drippy again, much like at the Sagrada Familia.  Weird shapes greet you at every turn, nothing is square or a right angle.  There are really great views of the city below from the top, and I highly recommend going up even if it’s a hot day.  We walked down, then, to the long, undulating bench that surrounds a large, open space.  Millions of colorful tiles in different patters adorn the bench all the way around.  It’s super cool, and you get some nice views of the city from here as well.  We spent most of our time here, and I got a cool video of the kids playing “rock, paper, scissors” here.  You’ll have to check out Instagram for that!  

After the bench, you take a few steps down into this cave-like area where the roof is the bench and open space above.  There are little domes and arches everywhere under here with more cool mosaic tile designs.  It’s definitely all about the tiles here at Parc Guell!  

Before we left the park, we had to stop and see the famous lizard. There was a massive line for pictures by this super cool mosaic-tiled sculpture, but we managed to snap a quick shot.

By this time, we were getting pretty tired and burnt out from the heat, and we were ready to get back to the pool at our hotel.  Luckily, there is a very convenient taxi stand part-way down the hill, as Parc Guell is situated kind of far away from where most people would be staying on a trip to Barcelona.  

I regret not having time to see more of Gaudi’s spectacularly weird architecture around Barcelona, but I certainly intend to go back because there is just way too much to see and do there! If you only have a limited amount of time, I would recommend seeing La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell.  They are just too fascinating to miss!