botanical gardens vs. Ciutadella park

The Ciutadella park located next to Barcelona’s gothic quarter is one of the largest parks within the city limits. Josep Fontsere designed this park in 1877.  While visiting the park I felt a sense of clearly defined circulation and order through out the interior. Even the pathways branching off have a clear function and layout. Since there are many buildings within the park, the pathways have been laid out strategically to support the building and the parks interior elements, such as Gaudi’s fountain. The gardens and trees seem to have also been planned along with the pathways.

While visiting the botanical gardens, I felt that these gardens and spaces had a less systematic ordering to their overall plan. The randomness of the pathways circulation gives a sense of removal from the city and immersion into the surrounding green space. Montjuic in general seems to have a less orderly lay out when compared to Ciutadella park. While the multiple elements on Montjuic flow together, they all seem to be their own separate entity to the area. The botanical gardens give a nice contrast to the very orderly and linear layouts of the castle and the Olympic complex.

Overall, I believe both of these places are enjoyable spots within the city. However, I believe the botanical gardens offer a superior feeling of tranquility from the everyday chaos of the city. The heavily ordered layout of vegetation and circulation within Ciutadella park does not remove one from the city as well as the botanical gardens on Montjuic.

Southern Spain vs. Barcelona - Pick your plethora of awesomeness

My travels to southern Spain have provided me with a broader understanding of Spain and its many diverse subcultures. The first city we stopped in was Madrid. Madrid has a very modern feel when compared to Barcelona. Madrid is the New York City of Spain. It’s many bustling squares, and shopping avenues give a fast paced vibe comparable to New York City. The plan of the city is similar to New York City’s grid system. However, Madrid is similar to Barcelona in the fact that is has fused modern public architecture, with historical buildings of high cultural importance. Also a great portion of Madrid consists of winding alleyways similar to those of the gothic quarter in Barcelona.Besides amazing architectural buildings, Madrid is also the home of an awesome funk bar called Maher Faher, which is a great place to check out for a fun night, with cheap drinks and great local vibe.

            The next city we encountered was Segovia. Segovia is a very antiquated town. This Medieval town has one of the best-preserved Roman aqueducts in the world. Segovia was full of richly detailed renaissance and gothic architecture. Every building seemed to be very old, and this was reinforced by the lack of modern architecture in the center of town. Barcelona’s combination of the modern and the old gives an extremely diverse feeling to the city. Walking down the alleys of Barcelona feels like walking through the pages of an ancient scroll continuously layered to include even the most modern styles and trends.

            The next city we traveled to was Granada. Granada is home to the Alhambra, which is arguably one of the most remarkable Islamic palaces in Southern Spain. The use of water and geometric designs bestowed a tremendously strong feeling of tranquility through out the entire palace. This tranquility touched each sense of the body, as one moved through the different thresholds deeper into the interior spaces of the Palace. 

 Sevilla was another amazing city, home to the best tapas I've had in all of spain thus far. Catedral de Santa María de la Sede de Sevilla was the 4th largest cathedral in the world. Sevilla is renowned for its rich culture of bull fighting and flamenco dancing. The Torre del oro was a very interesting tower, but did not compare to the Castillo in Segovia or the Alhambra architecturally. 

Each Southern city in Spain had many similar elements, and many unique qualities. Sevilla felt to be purest stereotypical spanish city, because of its rich history is flamenco, tapas, and bullfighting. Segovia was the most well preserved city, however it is clear that it did not face the same challenges Madrid and Barcelona faced as large and rapidly growing metropolitan areas. Granada was amazing due to the significance of the Alhambra in the architectural history of Spain. The Alhambra was pretty well preserved, and one of the most interesting Islamic Palaces in the entire world. Overall, it is difficult to choose which part of Spain is the best. So my advice to you is to pick your plethora of awesomeness! Because you can not go wrong with any of these Spanish cities!