Challenge of the Barcelona Metro

I’ve had a couple of good days in Barcelona which has largely consisted of trying to navigate and understand the Metro system. It’s good but fairly complicated. Many stations are quite large and have multiple lines passing through them. Some stations have two or more entry points from the street that are called by nearly the same name (name of station plus name of street). This can require repeated references to a street map and metro schematic in order to figure out where one is. Of course this now requires numerous uses of the reading glasses of which I wisely brought two pair because I lost one pair last night. I’ve thus managed to get around a bit to walk, see, eat, and photograph. 

Here is a photo of a building I just stumbled upon one evening. I'm glad I had my tripod to photograph the gorgeous stairway entry!  

Entrance to the Barcelona Conservatory of Music

Yesterday I visited Gaudi’s “Palau Güell”, a palace for a patron named Güell (which I think is pronounced Gow). It was more interesting and beautiful than I expected. Being confined on a crowded city lot, it was built up rather than out, covering eight levels, counting the basement and roof where numerous chimneys emerge.

Ironwork above the arched entrances to Antoni Gaudi's Palau Güell

Ceiling detail

Chimneys decorated with mosaics of broken tile