After our visit to Park Guell, we went to the Arc de Triomf, built in 1888. You can see the 4 posts in front of it are topped with dragons, just the start of the dragon themes in the area. The 3rd pic is the road leading to the monument.
The then walked along the Passeig de Lluís Companys to the Parc de la Ciutadella. The first pic shows the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia. The second shows a dragon-themed decoration along the walkway. Finally, the Monument a Rius i Taulet dedicated to a multi-term mayor who promoted the 1888 Expo.
At the entrance to the Parc de la Ciutadella is the Castle of 3 Dragons, currently closed, with 3 lizards surrounding an empty water feature out front. Barcelona is currently in a drought, so the fountains were empty. There were also some greenhouses with various plant exhibitions that we walked through.
Here’s a Catholic church in the park with a high school to the left. A pond had lots of people paddling boats.
We walked past a dance event in front of the El Carro de l’Aurora (Chariot of the Aurora). Knowing nothing about it, I’m guessing this is a Catalan dance called “sardana” where dancers hold hands and move in a circle. This is a movie, so click it!
A few pics from our walk back to the Metro stop, including the very ornate light poles along the path. As you can see, everyone is out on a nice Winter day!
Later that evening, we went out to a restaurant recommended to us for paella, but the sky was so spectacular I had to stop and take a picture!
After dinner, we took a detour back to the hotel via Passeig de Gràcia, a main street with several Gaudi buildings. As we approached, we saw lots of police and a huge crowd. They had a street concert with projectors on Casa Batllo, a Gaudi-designed house with dragon scale-looking roof. Another movie – click it!
The concert ended as we approached so we were among the thousands of people clogging the streets to clear the area.
[…] Day 3 – Afternoon and Evening […]