DAY 79: Park Güell, The National Art Museum of Catalonia, and Estadi Olímpic

View from Park Güell

 Today we decided to take another long walk to Park Güell.

FUN FACT #50: Park Güell was a failed housing development on the outskirts of Madrid. It was originally built by a man named Count Esubi Güell, hence the park's name. Only two lavish houses were built however, until Antoní Gaudí moved into one of them with his father and niece. He continued the building of the area with his own interesting style. He designed a few fountains, buildings, balconies, and bridges on the plot which makes this a semi-museum dedicated to him and his work.

Marisa, Me, and Lizzy.

Kief and Lizzy under Gaudí's bridge/walkway

After another picnic lunch overlooking Barcelona (this time on another side of the city) we went to take a tour of Gaudí's former home. His house had some decorations that were of his own creation, as was most of the furniture. It was a very interesting house, and I learned quite a bit about Gaudí's life and his works.

When we had finished walking around the park, we continued on to El Estadí Olîmpic, otherwise known as the Olympic Stadium of Barcelona.

FUN FACT #51: The Olympic Stadium was originally built for the 1936 Olympics, which ended up being held in Berlin instead. Since then, it was renovated in the 80's and used for the 1992 Olympic Games. It is located on Montjuic, the highest mountain in Madrid.

We walked around for a bit and looked at the Stadium (which looks a lot like every other stadium I've seen...) which holds about 65,000 people. We continued on to see the sun set at the National Art Museum of Catalonia which overlooked the city (again). The sunset was gorgeous and afterward, we meandered our way back down into the city. We picked up our bags from the hostel, got some much needed Subway, and took the train back to Barcelona.

The Three Musketeers at the overlook of Barcelona from the balcony of The Art Museum.

The kids were soooo funny when we got back- they were crazy wired and so excited to meet Marisa, it was very funny. Pilar and Luis were so kind and bought a small air mattress for Kief to sleep on. We both slept hard that night and were prepared for a fun week in Madrid!

The National Art Museum of Catalonia