Visiting Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain

When I first visited Spain last  December 2011, I told myself that I must also visit Barcelona one day.  During my first visit, we had a sightseeing in  some of the cities in Andalusian region including Cordoba, Seville and Granada. We also visited Madrid  and Toledo that time.

I visited it  again for the second time in March 2012 hoping to get a temporary job in Madrid.  That job did not materialized. It is a long story and I  will try to share it next time. While staying in  Spain's capital city for almost three weeks, I did some sidetrips to Avila, Guadalajara, Alcala de Henares, Aranjuez and  El Escorial. During my stay there, I also had the chance to visit most  corners  of the city.I will never get lost in Madrid because this is the only city in Europe  where I explored most.

My visit in Spain happened for the third time. Last summer 2012 in July, my friends invited me for a bus trip  from Germany to Catalonia's capital city.  It was a very exhausting long long trip but we  enjoyed it  a lot. To make the story short,  I finally  visited Barcelona.

Bird nests built by Gaudí in the terrace walls.© http://myeurotravelandadventures.blogspot.com

One of the sights we visited is  Park Güell. It is located on the hill of El Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona. The famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi designed and built it from 1900 to 1914.

We had a walk around the park.  The weather was quite hot that time  despite being cloudy. I was informed that the best time to visit Barcelona is during autumn season, in October or November.  During our walk, I saw the Gaudi House Museum, the dragon or salamander mosaic at the entrance of the park, the viaduct, colonnade partway, mosaic on the ceiling of Hypostyle Room and the pavilion at the entrance.

Park Güell or Parc Güell in Catalan is not listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites under "Works of Antoni Gaudi. I still wish to visit this park again.

More travel stories in this blogs; Europe Travel Pad, Countryside Trip and Travel Snapshots.

Buildings at the entrance of  park Güell. From the main terrace of the park, you can have a  nice view of the city of Barcelona.   © http://myeurotravelandadventures.blogspot.com

Summer Trip in Insel Mainau in Lake Constance

Do you love plants and flowers like me?  One of the perfect place for you to visit in Germany is Insel Mainau. This beautiful island of Mainau (Insel  means island in English word) is a paradise for me.  During  my first visit last  August 2012, I feel in love with this island. This park and garden  is  truly a great  place  for me  to visit since I really love  flowers.

Mainau is a garden island in Lake Constance, known in German as Bodensee. It is one of the major  tourists attraction in this area. It belong to the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung (English: the Lennart Bernadotte Foundation), created by  Prince Lennart, formerly Prince of Sweden and Duke o Smaland.

During our visit, we  had a walk around the island, seeing various  plants and flowers of all kinds including exotic ones. I was truly amazed by the beauty of nature in this island. We also went inside the butterfly garden in the island. There, you can find varieties of butterflies and  information on  the stages of their life development.

The palace in Insel Mainau. There is a church located on the right side of  the palace.

Some of the flowers in the gardens  of  Mainau.
I took all these images during our trip last summer this year.

Walking Around Buen Retiro Park in Madrid, Spain

It was one sunny afternoon when I decided to go walking in Madrid. From Plaza de Manuel Becerra , I just walked going to Buen Retiro Park. It is only around 2.5 kilometers from my departure point. I took me around 25 minutes to walk including the photo stops I made in between especially when I see interesting monuments and buildings along the streets to Buen Retiro Park. It is also the largest park in the city of Madrid.

I did enjoyed my walk in this park which literally means "Gardens" or "Park of the Pleasant Retreat".

The Monument to King Alfonso XII is located in Buen Retiro Park (El Retiro), Madrid, Spain. The monument is situated on the east edge of an artificial lake near the center of the park. The monument is 30 meters high, 86 meters long, and 58 meters wide I took this image during my visit last March 16, 2012.

The Buen Retiro Park is a large and popular 1.4 km2 (350 acres) park at the edge of the city center, very close to the Puerta de Alcalá and not far from the Prado Museum. A magnificent park, filled with beautiful sculpture and monuments, galleries, a peaceful lake and host to a variety of events, it is one of Madrid's premier attractions. The park is entirely surrounded by the present-day city.