Barcelona

Tuesday 17 November

08.00 Got up after a disturbed night, due to corridor door banging. Must get moved.

08.30 Breakfast in common room, very good coffee, small cakes, toast, cereal and juice.

09.00 Expedition party set off into the cooler mist morning and walked to Ave Diagonal. A very well planned road, simply incorporating car lanes on the outer edges, then a cycle lane on one inner path and a grass covered tram line on the other, with a wide tree lined pedestrian walkway in the centre. The bought a 10 journey transport ticket for €7.70. Took tram to El Maresme.

10.00 Met the others at the main entrance to Parc de Diagonal Mar, designed by Enrico Moralis. Helter scelta style tracks with a mix of large suspended Gaudi style hanging planters. Loose crushed gravel and concrete from the entrance to the lake. Planting of Eucalyptus, Acacia sofia, Olives and Palms. We then walked further in to the west side of the lake, to find a more formal landscaped grassy layout. A further area laid out with a large number of sports pitches, basketball and table tennis. Another section provides some younger playgrounds, which were even able to keep most of us occupied with interactive activities. The whole park is very well maintained, due to the service charge income received from the residents of the surrounding developments. We then walked on to the black wedge shaped Forum building, floating over the ground. This was built for a recent 2 week world forum exhibition and looks very run down already, which proves why it was considered a massive waste on money by the public. Then on to the Diagonal mar Forum Esplanade / Parc de Auditorials, a large area with open air structures for outdoor events. The dominant structure being the enormous Solar Panel Forum now seen in Mazda car adverts. Back onto the Metro and back to the hostel to get warmer cloths.

14.00 Down to the metro, picked up a sandwich and on to Placa Espagne to meet up with the whole group. We then walked up the hill towards the Palace and went to the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion. I was so pleased to finally visit this authentic reconstruction and see how its clean lines and natural decoration have influenced so many designers for so many years. Then another long walk with Ed, Leo and some others up to the castle at the top of Montjuic, getting very lost and colder on the way. The cooler afternoon resulted in the views of Barcelona below us being blanketed in heavy mist. Advice would be to get a bus to the castle, don’t walk. The castle was not so interesting, but potentially great views of the city and its perimeter hills. Then sat and had a water and a Snicker form the cafe, before getting the expensive cable car (€6) down to the metro. Back to the hostel at 18.30.