In the blur of serenity

by Kristin Young

Portland Community College

Back home in the lush, green landscape of Oregon, our city parks are these grassy areas where kids can play, and the trails are paved (because they would otherwise be mud for the majority of the year).  For the most part, our parks are really only used as a shortcut across a city block or a nice bit of color against the gray, concrete world. Sure there are parks in suburbia, but those are mostly for jogging or a place to unload your kids so that you don’t have to worry about them being hit by a car. You would be hard-pressed to find someone taking time out of their day just to enjoy the surroundings unless it fit in to that day’s agenda.

Here in Barcelona, parks are everywhere, though many are very different from the ones I conjure up in my head.  Only the really large parks are covered in grass, and many have signs urging visitors to stay off of those rare patches of green.  Otherwise, you are usually looking at an area of vegetation in the middle of a large city with dirt paths and perhaps a simple play structure.  While they are different, they are beautiful in their own way.  Many have added architectural designs incorporated within and around, just waiting for discovery.  But besides looking completely different from what I think a park should look like, the way people use the parks here is far different than what I am used to.

 

Of course you have the standard dog-walkers and kids playing. I have even seen a jogger or two (but really, exercisers are not all that common on the streets).  The real beauty of the parks in Barcelona is that you can find someone sitting on a bench with a newspaper simply enjoying the moment of peace.  It’s not just a place to sit as you pound down one last cup of coffee before your thirty-minute lunch break is over. Instead of jogging through the park as a nice, quaint little place to get some exercise, people stroll though the park to chat whilst enjoying plants and flowers and escaping from the surrounding world of stone.

photos by Kristin Young