July 27: Gràcia

From Park Güell I made my way toward the heart of the city. First I zigzagged through Gràcia, originally a separate town from Barcelona, subsumed into it once the Eixample's development bridged between the two. Like Poble-Sec, Gràcia's streets are mostly straight but more irregular than those of the Eixample.

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Heading down Carrer de Larrard, a look to the southwest up Carrer de Mercedes, up to a scoop roof and a wing of the Park beyond.

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And then a look southwest up the next street down, Rambla de Mercedes, also terminated by a grand stair.

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A well-kept terraced topiary going up the next street down from there, the... Passatge de Mercedes.

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Carrer de Larrard terminates at the highway Travessera de Dalt. Just across from Larrard is this building with a very tall central lightwell open to the side. I wonder if the road noise gets funneled in there.

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Crossing the Travessera was not to be trifled with, so I used the fortified crosswalk. Note the elevation change between the lanes.

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The lightwell block towering toward the sun.

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The narrow, pale Carrer de Sors descending from the Travessera.

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Undulating balconies at Dalt and Carrer de l'Escorial.

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On Carrer de les Camèlies just off l'Escorial, more massive end walls, with interesting inlay textures on the lefthand one.

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Palladian pidges on the church of Sant Miquel dels Sants, on l'Escorial between Carrer de Cardener and Carrer de Mossèn Masdexeixart (quite the name). It is a deceptively new building, completed in 1963.

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A convex complex, the Clínica Nostra Senyora del Remei, on the corner of l'Escorial and Passeig d'Amunt.

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And a, well, concave complex, on the corner of l'Escorial and Carrer de Martí. Surprise! It's just the other side of the Clínica.

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These are some weird sci-fi balconies, for real. This is further down l'Escorial between Carrer de l'Encarnació and Carrer de Sant Lluís.

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At the corner of l'Escorial, Carrer de Bruniquer, and the larger, diagonal Carrer de Pi i Margall, is the Plaça Joanic, split between this triangular area and a square one to the west.

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One block to the south is the start of the Passeig de Sant Joan, one of the wide tree-filled avenues of the Eixample.

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On Travessera de Gràcia across from the top of the Passeig, a subtly ornate, curious little building dwarfed by its neighbor.

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The small but regimented Carrer de Banyoles.

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The sun's azimuth aligned over Carrer de la Llibertat.

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Carrer de la Fraternitat looking peachy from the corner of Llibertat.

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Close to the west end of Llibertat, an extraordinarily mystifying sequence of phone-numbered labels in the street.

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A serrated insertion of new over old at the Clínica Olivé Guma, at the corner of Carrer del Torrent de l'Olla and Carrer de Còrsega.

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Espying the long straight flat view down Carrer de Pau Claris from across Carrer de Còrsega.