Barcelona

PALAU GUELL (Guell Palace, by Gaudi)

This guy Guell (pronounced gway with an almost silent "L" at the end) was Gaudi's best bud, and his benefactor - paid for many of Gaudi's projects. He had a fortune, today worth about 70 billion Euros (100 billion US), so in the same club as Bill Gates. Gaudi's architecture prof said that Gaudi was either a maniac or a genius, and that only time would reveal which. Gaudi was the first Spaniard to embrace Art Nouveau, and hired designers and craftsmen fluent in the Arts and Crafts movement (in England). Details in this building are mind-blowing. Tomorrow we see La Sagrada Familia.

Above: looking straight up into the dome 3 or stories high (I lost count).

Confections galore.

Valerie shops

Well-deserved glass of Cava, following an exhausting – but great – tour of the 

Barcelona Picasso Museum.