Barcelona, The Horta Gardens Part 3

Parc del Laberint d'Horta

Photos © Alice Joyce

Barcelona, Spain

Hidden Gardens

Near the main thoroughfare of Germans Desvalls is the entrance to the Horta Gardens. Here, the property's semi-restored mansion reflects an interesting pastiche of styles influenced by Moorish and Gothic architecture. The exterior is said to have been covered at one time with frescoes, while the presence of a 12th century watchtower, the Torre Sabiana, reflects the structure's antiquity.

Currently used as offices for the city's Parks and Gardens department, the building stands adjacent to a more contemporary gardenscape, built and enjoyed early-on by the estate's owners. Delineated by boxwood topiary, the setting is now lush with flower beds, mature palm trees and camellias.

Generally one enters the Parc del Laberint d'Horta along the walkway opposite the mansion's gardens. Looking at a plan of the grounds reveals a complex layout, encompassing romantic grottoes, canals, and a bevy of secreted spaces encountered along dense paths through the woods.

If you choose not to approach the maze directly, but take a side path instead, you'll pass through the Porta Xinesa or Chinese Gate, and come upon a secluded spot. The gateway, with its delightful openwork design and peaked roof, sets the tone for a perfectly composed, intimate space embraced by the surrounding woodland. Low, trimmed hedging articulates the geometry of the garden. A space open to the sky, and centered upon a circular pool, and the plashing of a simple waterspout fountain.

For more on Barcelona & The Horta Gardens, click here:

Part II

Barcelona's Secret Garden, The Horta - Part 2

Barcelona

The Horta Gardens 

The compelling art and architecture of Antoni Gaudi draws flocks of admirers to Barcelona, and Bay Area Tendrils will be returning to Parc Guell, one of Gaudi's beloved works.

For now, the romantic confines of Parc del Laberint d'Horta take precedence; a property owned by the city.

Joan Antoni Desvalls i d'Ardena conceived the plan of the Horta's harmonious landscape in 1791, when the area was mainly pastoral countryside. 

Acres of dense greenery foster a reflective quietude, while the imagination is easily swept away by the symbolism of statuary, and the classical counterpoint of the Italianate buildings & ornamental water features.

Eros arises center stage within the maze, while two temples arranged symmetrically - dedicated to Ariadne and Danae - overlook the labyrinth's delightful pathways.

Read more ... Part III

Barcelona, The Horta Gardens

Laberint d'Horta 

The Horta Gardens and Maze

Barcelona's 'secret' garden

A historic garden-museum located in the city's Green Zone; a quiet neighborhood far removed from the Barri Gotic and La Rambla. The 18th century Horta gardens are perhaps most often associated with the highly photogenic, living architecture of the gardens' centerpiece - an elaborate cypress maze.

Yet, many more pleasurable scenes, from intimate to monumental, await visitors to this beautifully preserved neoclassical landscape.  
Read more....

Valencia, Spain - Garden of the Hesperides

The Garden of the Hesperides

Photo © Copyright Alice Joyce

Valencia offers garden travelers and aficionados of modern landscape architecture a trove of settings to fill their days. Strolling away from the city center along Calle de Quart, you'll pass through the ancient towers on the way to the botanical gardens, appearing on your right. Across the street from the gardens, I booked a room at Chill Art Hotel Jardin Botanico.

Do leave a comment, telling me what you think of the hotel's web site design; evoking a dreamy delirium, or perhaps some other mood entirely: 
http://www.hoteljardinbotanico.com 

The El Carmen neighborhood is an artistic hub; a place to enjoy a bite to eat in a small cafe frequented by Valencians. My time in Valencia was coming to an end when I experienced an exhilarating finale to my exploration of Spain's third largest city. That's when I discovered The Garden of the Hesperides, adjacent to the University's Jardi Botanic, but tucked away on Gaspar Bono street.

The Hesperides helps to define the sophistication and spirit of Valencia in the new Millennium, with its refreshingly modern landscape design: A layout animated by the historical significance of its Mediterranean plantings, water features, and sculptural focal point.

Garden Design: M.T. Santamaria, A.Gallud, M. Del Rey, C. Campos

Enter the confines of this walled retreat and you escape from the nonstop traffic of a nearby thoroughfare. Two concrete gates swivel into a locked or unlocked position; the material given textural treatments that set polished surfaces against raw sections. Inlaid with linear strips of black and cream-colored marble, the gates have a presence that calls to mind vast canvases in an art galley. Underfoot, the walkway contains subtle leaf patterns suggestive of fossil remains.

The landscape's bold geometry caters to botanically inclined visitors with a composition incorporating rows of fragrant lavender and germander shrubs, bisected by walls of emerald green foliage interspersed with palm trees.

Exhuberant bougainvillea clad pergolas provide a shady respite, while an espalier of 'Toscana' lemons basks in the sun. Water gently flows within the angular outlines of a rill, the channel dipping beneath the ground, and ultimately finding its way into a rectangular pond.

On the expansive terraces, a lovely Salix babylonica weeps, in alliance with 'Metamorfosis' ...a sculpture by Miklos A. Palfy.

Garden of the Hesperides, Valencia, Spain

Above - Photo © Alice Joyce / The Garden of the Hesperides

Photos: Bleda & Rosa, Miguel A.Valero, Antonio Gallud & Miguel del Rey

In Greek mythology, the daughters of the god Hesperus dwelled in an idyllic mountain garden at the edge of the world. Guarded by a dragon, this arcadian realm was known for its tree of golden apples.

The nymphs (sometimes called the African Sisters) provided inspiration for what I found to be Valencia's most surprising public space: The Garden of the Hesperides. Constructed between 1998 and 2000, the 'Hesperides' is the work of VAM 10 Arquitectura Studio: Designed by Maria Teresa Santamaria, agricultural technical engineer, & architects Antonio Gallud, Carlos Campos, and Miguel del Rey.

In the contained space of a Hortus Conclusus, the designers called upon symbolic elements to relate to the scented landscapes of early Catalonia. A collection of citrus species hearkens to the admirable horticulture of Valencia's 15th century. Cypresses are planted as prominent structural forms. Water cascades through channels. Fountains freshen the air.

In the words of the designers, "The garden is a setting for dreams...where...the highest, most generous thoughts come to mind." In naming the garden, they looked to the nymphs as "the symbol of fertility."

More will follow in the coming days on the garden's exceptional modernity: A layout that successfully highlights contemporary materials and textures while celebrating the region's traditions and history.

Valencia's 19th Century Gardens, Monforte - Viveros

Valencia's 19th century Gardens

The old center of Valencia offers charming diversions for garden lovers: In contrast to the contemporary aspects of the Turia gardens, demonstrating the precision of Bofill's Modernism, or Calatrava's innovative 'City of Arts & Sciences' buildings that manifest the breadth of the engineer/architect's expertise, visitors to Valencia bask in historic parks and flower-filled promenades. 

Monforte Gardens

Stepping out from the designated old quarter, via the Puente de Real, one enters Viveros by crossing to the right bank of the old river bed. Valencia's largest garden landscape, it's the site of the former Royal gardens; the palace long since destroyed. With rose-draped pergolas, aviary, and Paleontology Museum on the grounds, Viveros  is a perfect spot to take a cafe break and engage in people-watching.

On a more intimate scale, Monforte Gardens presents an achingly romantic, mid-19th century design of clipped orange trees and manicured parterres. In this atmospheric setting, venerable, age-old trees provide shade from the intense sunshine, giving way to grottoes of moss and lichen encrusted rock. In a satisfying convergence of fountains and filigreed ironwork, stroll amid an allee of classical sculptures, and feel refreshed, pausing at a pond shaped like a water-lily.

A bit further along, the 19th century Paseo de la Alameda is a leafy, Moorish-inspired walk running adjacent to the old river bed. Delight in the ancient stone stairways, and asymmetrical layout of flower-filled beds and borders.

Valencia's City of Arts & Sciences, Gardens & Architecture

Ricardo Bofill Designed Section of Valencia's Turia Gardens

My posts have touched upon the development of the Turia gardens, with glimpses of Cabecera and the Bioparc at the western boundary. Continuing along, past the botanical gardens, we put aside the romantic setting of Monforte and Jardines del Real for another time.

Proceeding along the Turia, as the walkway wraps around the city's lovely old quarter, we meandered along Ricardo Bofill's contemporary layout adjacent to the music palace.

L'Hemisferic   -- Photos copyright © Alice Joyce

Now, the spectacle of the City of Arts and Sciences looms: Gleaming white, organic architectural forms in glass, steel and concrete, emphatically proclaiming Valencia's place in the new millennium. Situated amid a 7,000 square-meter green space and sculpture park, completed in 2007, the 'City' arises in a formerly depressed industrial area a few kilometers from the sea. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the stunning buildings comprise a modern-day mecca of art and technology in the emblematic Palau de les Arts, and Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe.  Felix Candela designed L'Oceanografic, a marine park.

Photo Courtesy Turismo Valenica

The entryway to the 'City,' L'Umbracle was designed to conceal. Its form stands atop a parking garage, while Calatrava created sculptural forms sheated in mosaics to house the elevators and mask air conditioning units. A word derived from Latin, l'umbracle is a sort of shade house. In this case, one that captures the imagination. An innovative, open-air public space, the 18-meter-high structure possesses an intrinsic clarity of light for its trove of plants, and terrace for relaxation and receptions: Allees of palms, ornamental vines, and aromatic species include shrubs native to the region, commingling with bitter orange trees, rockrose, plumbago, and buddleja.

L'Hemisferic, a planetarium inspired by the human eye, provides one of the most magical effects, with the head-turning concept of pencil cypresses breaking the surface of the pale blue water encircling the building.

The vast, undulating grounds of the 'City' present a densely planted landscape. Its swathes of herbs and bosks of trees which will braid together as they reach maturity.

Read more .. Valencia's contemporary landscape

Valencia, Spain: Architecture & Gardens

Turia Gardens Overview - Courtesy Turismo Valencia

La Lola

 Calatrava's L'Umbracle    Photo © Alice Joyce

The City of Arts & Sciences awaits.  But there's little time to post today.

Look to the locator map to place Valencia on Spain's east coast. 

I'm also passing along a recommendation for a great meal at La Lola: terrifically hip, in an atmospheric locale ~ 

the old quarter's Barrio del Carmen.

Valencia, Spain - Turia Gardens & Bridges

Bridge of the Sea   

Photos and Text Copyright © Alice Joyce

Richard Bofill Design - the Turia -  Photo © Alice Joyce

Valencia's bridges add atmosphere and character to each stretch of the Turia gardens:

Turismo Valencia provided an image of Calatrava's famous expanse, Exposition Bridge, but it somehow vanished!  Its form is startlingly contemporary, the bright bowed shape playing off the tactile stone wall of the river bed walkway. (The iconic span, affectionately referred to as 'the comb' by locals.)

The old wall embraces the path as Flower Bridge comes into view, a popular pedestrian walkway replanted annually with masses of colorful seasonal blooms. Bofill's Modernist aesthetic characterizes the Turia area linking the 16th century Bridge of the Sea - where a spacious circular pool evokes the river - to the Bridge of the Guardian Angel.

Bofill laid out the parcel in a symmetrical, rectilinear arrangement, softening all the straight lines with a lush green oasis incorporating groves of orange trees. A progression of fountains, set into the ground and enlivened by red tinted walls, produces a refreshing play of water as you move on. The fountains serve as a gateway, announcing the Palace of Music, where concrete colonnades articulate the palace's formal courtyards. Olive trees, emerald lawns, and elaborately patterned carpet bedding emerge, along with a vast reflecting pool that springs to life with water jets synchronized to music coming from the concert hall.

The mirror image of Bofill's design is restated in the path beyond, its soothing geometry leading directly to the City of Arts and Sciences, completed a couple years ago. I'll visit the 'City' in posts to follow.

For the City of Arts and Sciences post, click here:

Valencia, Spain - Turia Gardens & Bridges

The initial development of the Turia's new course takes in a 170,000-square-meter expanse, including sports facilities, bike paths, exercise stations, & lush gardens superimposed upon the dry river bed. You'll discover its rambling beauty on a stroll eastward, along distinctive sections that wrap around the heart of old Valencia's serpentine streets and plazas. An area visually rich with Baroque, Romanesque, Gothic and Mudejar architecture. 

To begin to appreciate the Turia's transformation, start at the western boundary. The new Cabecera Park, a 35-hectare nature preserve formally connects the diverted river to it former site. The parkland's reconfigured terrain gives rise to naturalistic hills and a lake, threaded through with winding paths that culminate in a series of overlooks. Plantings emulate a Mediterranean pinewood and natural wetland habitat, enhanced by enclaves of exotic trees. And work continues on the Bioparc, a natural zoo reserve adjoining Cabecera.

My personal journey - the focus of my posts - engages with the Turia further along,

beyond Cabecera & the Bioparc, the history museum & sports stadium. 

Entering at the 19th-century Alameda, a leafy, Moorish-inspired walkway running parallel to the river bed, you'll pass beneath evocative bridges that help to define the Turia's newly landscaped spaces, unfolding as you approach the City of Arts and Sciences.  You'll also discover Valencia's historical gardens, Monforte and Viveros.

The aerial photos provide glimpses of Valencia's famous bridges, the Palau de la Musica, and Calatrava's buildings. Much more to follow.....

Spain - The Turia Gardens

Detail of Santiago Calatrava's gardens  for... The City of Arts & Sciences

Photos copyright © Alice Joyce

Ricardo Bofill's minimalist design for a section of the Turia.

Valencia's Turia Gardens

A city  of tantalizing contrasts, Valencia beckons. Stroll the vibrant town center amid ancient Roman ruins, and you may find yourself surprised by elements of 21st century garden artistry.  There's a newfound panache to this city which extends to its port, an elegantly rejuvenated area where the 2007 America's Cup competition was held. The seafront commands attention with an array of chic restaurants, glittery hotels, and broad promenades giving rise to atmospheric displays of palm trees and lavish flower beds.

Yet, long before the media began trumpeting the America's Cup, Valencia's Turia Gardens attracted international attention, and prompted me to plan a trip to Spain to see the project.

The Turia's transformation can be traced to 1957, when flood waters devastated the Ciutat Vella, the historic district, and brought chaos to the province. In an effort to avoid another such deluge, the government diverted the Turia river, relocating its watercourse. Rather than turn the dry river bed into a highway - a proposal rejected by the citizenry - an inspired alternative came about: A public green zone - the Turia Gardens.

Renowned architect Ricardo Bofill assumed a primary role in the Turia's overall planning during the 1980s, envisioning a green sward meandering around and through Valencia on a path toward the sea. The transformation would be pivotal in the history of Valencia and its people, infusing the city with a renewed energy. 

I'll be writing more about the Turia's design, Calatrava's eye-opening contribution to Valencia's architecture, the city's historic gardens, and a visionary public park located near the botanical garden.

Valencia, Spain - Botanical Garden

photos copyright © Alice Joyce

Images from the Botanical Garden of  Valencia University (Jardi Botanic)

http://www.jardibotanic.org

In the days ahead I'll be sharing my impressions of Valencia.  I was, in large part, drawn to this coastal city because of Santiago Calatrava, architect and native son.

Valencia, Spain...

Calatrava's buildings and bridges have garnered praise and sparked controversy worldwide. And he has been instrumental in putting Valencia 'on the map' with his recently completed buildings that make up the City of Arts and Sciences.  (Much more will follow on this stunning complex & the Turia Gardens, another must-see destination.)

In the same way that Frank Gehry brought Bilbao to life, when his breathtaking design for the Guggenheim Museum began to attract pilgrims among the cognoscenti of art and architecture, and soon after, the pilgrimages of everyday tourists, Calatrava has put his mark on Valencia.

Today I offer a peek inside Valencia's botanical garden, located in the city center, with fine collections of palm trees, succulents, native flora, and shade house known as l'umbracle.

Spain's El Generalife, Granada

Photo Copyright © Alice Joyce

The Nasrid Palaces  -  Inside the gracefully proportioned halls of the Nasrid palaces, a spell is cast by vast sweeps of rhythmically carved motifs, covering plaster walls and soaring wooden ceilings. The visual feast is heightened by the carvings known as muqarnas: A unique tiered ornamentation that adorns countless domes, vaults, niches, and at times emerges in the shape of stalactites. 

El Generalife

Positioned high above the surrounding river valleys,, the Moorish-designed royal gardens of the Alhambra and the Generalife manifest the ideals of an earthly paradise in sheltered courtyards cooled by shallow marble fountains or mirror-like pools of water. Providing an escape from the intense Mediterranean sun the gardens are replete with luxuriant vegetation; cypress, myrtle, and box shrubbery; abundant citrus, plum and magnolia trees. A floral perfume sweetens the air of the Generalife, where peering through arches sculpted out of massive, architectural hedges, you'll savor images of canals flanked by rose allees.

To read more about SPANISH GARDENS...

Islamic Gardens.... Paradise on Earth

Alhambra .. Torre de las Damas

 Copyright ©Alice Joyce

Paradise on earth.... an idealized world hidden within the walls of the Islamic garden.

Should the Arab world be outside your reach, you'll find that most memorable effect fully realized in the gardens of the Alhambra, looming over the city of Granada in southern Spain's Andalusia region.

Despite the crowds you'll encounter, a tour of Granada rightly pivots upon the Alhambra's wonders: The immense hilltop complex standing as a testament to eras of occupation by Romans, Goths, and the control of Christian monarchs after 1492. Yet, the grandeur of the Alhambra monument resides in neither the surviving citadel nor the palace of Charles V, but rather in the Medieval epoch's Nasrid palaces, and the exquisite gardens of the sultan's retreat, El Generalife - created by Muslim rulers.

Avid hikers may choose to follow a maze of narrow, winding streets to the monument's gateway, but a bouncing ascent aboard a minibus is the usual transport from Granada's centrally located Plaza Nueva.

Subsequent postings will delve into the architecture, ornamentation and plantings of this remarkable setting.

To read more...

Gardens in Spain ~ Rodriguez-Acosta Foundation

Spain, a land of brilliant sunshine and landscapes that manifest the country's rich history.

My journey began in Barcelona, moved south to Granada, and braided together a side trip to Valencia: A coastal destination with stunning contemporary gardens, Valencia will surface in future postings where I'll share my discoveries and not-to-miss sites in a city bursting with energy. 

For now, if it's a bit of paradise  you're after.... Granada holds sway in a little-known garden secreted from the throngs that stream through the corridors of the Alhambra. 

Ramble down the road, away from the cacophony of tourist buses unloading at that magnificent monument. Along the narrow, winding streets to the Alhambra Palace Hotel esplanade, follow the marker pointing toward the Rodriguez-Acosta Foundation, its inconspicuous, worn wooded doorway set within a formidable streetside wall. 

Sequestered here is the early 20th century home and studio of Granada-born painter Jose Maria Rodriguez-Acosta; now a museum, cultural hub, and beautifully preserved gardens. There's a calculated momentum to this journey. You must proceed through a passageway of the foundation building, before crossing a threshold to behold the artist's modernist landscape - a multilevel configuration of individuated garden rooms presided over by classical statuary.

Borrowing features from the rarified atmosphere of a Roman temple, the artist set the stage to stir intellectual and utopian yearnings with an architecture of clean-lined spaces defined by columned arcades and emerald green partitions - the garden's long-established clipped cypress hedges.

A tour of the garden unfolds along glistening stone terraces open to the bright cerulean sky, and in stark contrast, through shady vestibules enlivened by a play of light and shadow cast by the towering columns and rounded arches. By way of staircases linking the terraces, you move through a framework of hedges of varying heights, which organize the garden's soothing geometry. The outside world disappears amid these hedges that enclose and conceal unexpected scenarios. 

Around each corner a discreet scene turns your attention to a draped goddess, naked god, or a gathering of cherubs balanced on high pedestals: Enchanting prospects complemented by auditory effects from the splashing jets of a reflecting pool or gurgling fountains.

The restrained theatricality culminates with a spectacular colonnade inset with ironwork balconies. Perched on high at the garden's periphery, a promontory takes full advantage of the site, not far from the Alhambra. Visitors are enticed to linger, looking out over evocative vistas of the countryside and rugged mountains in the distance.

In the coming days, my journey of discovery will continue to unfold, revealing a hidden gem in Barcelona; the Alhambra's Generalife gardens; Valencia's expansive Turia Gardens, too. Santiago Calatrava's spirited design for the City of Arts and Sciences succeeded in putting Valencia 'on the map' so to speak, yet the city holds still more surprises.