Guest Blogging: Dave Hall - Life beyond Parc Guell..?
by Dave Hall in Barcelona
In today’s guest blogging post, Dave Hall, who can also be found blogging at pepino-bcn.blogspot.com, asks if there is life beyond Barcelona’s Parc Guell:
Everyone who comes to Barcelona should of course be sure to check out the many Gaudí designed buildings and parks that the city has to offer, with Parc Guell probably very high on their list, but how about all those other parks and gardens that don’t have the guaranteed draw that Gaudí’s name brings? I decided to head away from the crowds today and take a closer look at a hidden gem of a garden that you might just recognise..!
El Laberinto de Horta is located on the mountain side of the city, set back just a little further than Parc Guell, and is a relatively small, but nonetheless stunning neo-classical park dating back to the 1700s. It used to be the home of Joan Antoni Desvalls who was the Marqués de Llúpia i d’Alfarràs, but was acquired in 1971 by the local authorities and subsequently opened to the public. The centrepiece of the park is an immaculately manicured maze made up of cypress trees overlooked by a Romanesque style balustrade complete with classical statues and stone pergolas.
Further back, and up the grand steps behind the maze, is a large pond full of goldfish, which in turn, is backed onto by a further classical stairway and classical statues making yet more romantic photo-opportunities or just great places to explore.
Walking around, you’ll notice just how many discrete little canals and streams there are to move the water around and, I assume, to power by gravity the subtle but beautiful fountains that are dotted around. One of the best water features the park has to offer is an impressive waterfall drizzling down the natural old stones full of moss.
Perhaps the parks greatest asset though, is the fact that it escapes the worst of the tourist throngs. Quite how something so stunning could manage this I have no idea, but you can even go on a Sunday afternoon and be pretty much assured of a peaceful and crowd-free opportunity to stroll around, relax, take some pictures, or maybe just read a book and enjoy the heavenly surroundings. On weekdays, there is a small entrance fee of €2.05 (and yes, I did ask at the entrance why the 5 cents were so important, but the guy admitted it was a mystery to him too!) although on Sundays, you can get in for free.
The relative tranquillity of Horta could be on the verge of coming to an end, as the park was featured in one of the most memorable scenes from the recent film “Perfume” (hence why I said at the start that you might recognise it). The scenes where the girls are playing hide and seek in the maze were all filmed here, and definitely show the maze in a whole different light given the eerie and semi-dark atmosphere of the movie.
The pictures I took today can be seen on my new Flickr page and there is more information about the Perfume movie here.
Don’t forget to check out Dave’s blog at pepino-bcn.blogspot.com
Posted: July 2nd, 2007 under Notes from Barcelona, Spain Travel, guest bloggers.
Comments: 11
Comments
Comment from Steve W
Time: July 2, 2007, 6:56 pm
I will definitely take a look at this some time soon. Just the type of thing that I like. (FREE)
And keep whoring that Flickr page.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: July 2, 2007, 7:54 pm
Nicely done Pepino! With a quick display of your park photo, I convinced a colleague at work, who studied there for 3 months as a high school student, to return to Barcelona.
Comment from Gabriella Opaz
Time: July 2, 2007, 10:23 pm
Dave! Who knew about this park?! We were just troopsing around Barcelona yesterday with a friend of ours and saw the Sagrada Familia, but never once thought of going here. Granted, I actually went into the cathedral for the first time, leaving completely overwhelmed with the amount of fabulous information thrown at me, rather than just looking at it from a far. But at least I am in the “know” of new fun adventure to be had in the future. Please keep the good news flowing on great places to visit in our hometown 
Comment from richardksa
Time: July 4, 2007, 12:57 pm
That fantastic final scene in the square was filmed somewhere in BCN. Any idea where. And how the heck did they get all those extras to do THAT??
Comment from Gary
Time: July 4, 2007, 6:39 pm
Wish I could say this cheered me up but it has had quite the opposite effect - seeing all that neatly trimmed hedging has reminded me that due to the deluge in sunny Yorkshire I have been unable to fettle mum’s and auntied hedges for three weeks!! Cant say I relish the prospect - best scenario is it rains for another three weeks then I can leave it to my son - he’ll be back from Greece and I’ll be in BCN. Great photos…
Comment from Pepino (Dave Hall)
Time: July 5, 2007, 2:12 pm
Hi all. Been “sin internet” for a week or two so just catching up on things. I’m really glad you liked my suggestion of El Laberinto. I’ve not bigged it up in any way, it truly is that beautiful, honestly! I totally recommend it.
Regarding the final scene in the film, I’m not sure where that square is. I think it could be up near Girona, but don’t quote me. If I find out, I’ll be sure to report back.
By the way, the small plaza with the little fountain that also features in the film towards the beginning where he murders the girl selling the yellow plums, is right here in the centre of Barcelona and was already one of my favourite places before I even saw it in the film. It’s tucked away just off one of the busiest streets in the Barri Gotico but 99% of passers-by have no idea that it’s there. I took a Spanish friend there a few months ago and he never knew it existed despite having lived in the city for years!
It’s not a big grand plaza at all, and in some ways you could say it’s a bit grubby, but catch it on a hot steamy night at dusk when the lights are just coming on and it’s breathtaking. I’m not going to tell you what it’s called or exactly where it is as they’ll be a stampede and I’ll never get a minutes peace to chill next time I pop down there! How cruel! jeje 
Comment from Pepino (Dave Hall)
Time: July 5, 2007, 2:16 pm
One other thing, regarding the extras in the film. Apparently there was no shortage of applicants, and many of them happily signed up for the opportunity to have a bit of nooky on celuloid!
If you look closely, there are one or two couples that are taking full advantage and doing more than what the director probably requested! jeje
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: July 5, 2007, 10:23 pm
@Pepino: Otherwise known as “method acting”
Comment from Pepino (Dave Hall)
Time: July 5, 2007, 11:47 pm
I daren’t even imagine how many people refused to stop their “method acting” when the director shouted “cut!”
Cut!…. Cuuuuut!….. CUUUUTTTTT!…… Oh, just carry on then if you must…!
Comment from Marina
Time: July 10, 2007, 3:21 pm
Lovely park and great pics Dave, I’ll love to go there in our next trip to Barcelona.
I haven’t seen The Perfume film but I heard an interview in the radio with I think it was a producer and the Fura des Baus - a theatre group that was in charge of that last scene - and they commented that they used a copy-paste effect to simulate something like 10.000 people!?!?!
Comment from Pepino (Dave Hall)
Time: July 10, 2007, 5:21 pm
Wow, well it’s amazing what you can do with Photoshop these days! jeje
It’s a great film by the way, and really captured my imagination. I recommend it. I’m actually struggling through the book in Spanish at the moment, and I’m discovering that there’s a lot of parts that they left out of the film, which was probably a good thing, as the book is dragging slightly around the halfway point and could do with a bit of extra editing
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