Hyde Park, Top Tourist Attraction in London

Air View of Hyde Park

Hyde Park was opened to the public in 1637 and still one of the largest parks in London as well as one from the eight Royal Parks of the city that make up the “Green Lung” system in the center of the city. No doubt it is one of the most charming tourism objects in London city which attracts millions of local and international tourists.

A Concert at Hyde Park

The Hyde Park London is situated on the area of 142 hectares (360 acres) and provides many holidays’ activities to its visitors such as jogging, swimming, rowing, family picnicking, and horse riding. It also hosts several large events, celebrations and concerts.

According to history, the area of Hyde Park London was snatched by King Henry VIII in 1536 from a monk named Westminster Abbey. Its primarily used was hunting. Later on in 1638 the King Charles I opened it for public. The hunting area is so wide that extends from Westminster to Kensington. The park faced many modifications with the passage of time. The current position of the Park has been designed by Decimus Burton in decade of 1820.

The Serpentine Lake

The Hyde Park in London has many sites to visit one of the top attractions is its large artificial lake called The Serpertine also known as Long Water. It is popular for boating and swimming. The lake is located at south end and stretches straight to north into the neighboring Kensington Gardens. The lake was constructed in 1730.

Another top attraction in Hyde Park is a modern fountain, installed in honor of famous princess Diana, located on just southwest of Serpentine and inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004. It more resembles a stream rather than a fountain designed by American architect named Kathryn Gustafson.

The main entrance Gate of Hyde Park is located on southeast corner. It consists of three entrances. These entrances are very wide as to let a horse drawn passing the gate easily. There are two more entrances for pedestrians.
At the south end of Hyde Park is a famous 6.4 kilometers long bridle path known as Rotten Row. In the past, during 17th century the road was often used by William III.  Along the route the oil lamps were installed to let the route lit. The road is now used for jogging and horse riding.

The Marble Arch

In the other attractions there is speakers corner where every Sunday people stand and can free announce their views on every topic such as political and religious. While near this corner and in the north east corner of Hyde Park you can see the Marble Arch. It was built in 1872 as a gateway to Buckingham Palace. It was designed by John Nash from Rome.
There are plenty of statues in the Hyde Park such as Still Water, and Genghis Khan statues that were installed in 2012, and the Archilles Statue which is the largest statue in the Hyde Park erected in 1822. 

Park Guell, Barcelona's Top Attraction, Spain

Pavilion View

Park Guell is a famous public park beautifully constructed with gardens and architectonic elements located on Carmel Hill, in La Salut (it is located in north of Garcia District of Barcelona).  The park Guell’s main staircase and fancy pavilions were originally designed and built by famous artist Antoni Gaudi.

 Stairs Leads to the Sala Hipostila

 Meet Dragon-Like Lizard in the Center of Stairs 

Actually this place was constructed for some housing society in 1900, in which many houses were to build to sell them. But unfortunately they cannot sell even a single house. So the project went failed. According to story a popular Catalan industrialist named Eusebi Guell take a big area of about 17 hectare on a hill station of district Gracia. The area was very near in north of Barcelona. The idea was to make this plot into residential garden village (the idea was taken from English model villages). The project started and development was in progress. They built several public houses along with beautiful gardens.  In early 19th century the industrialist hire famous Antoni Gaudi with his support he also hired architects such as Josep M. Jujol and Francesc Berenguer. Antoni Gaudi was involved 10 to 13 years with this project since Guell declare it a failure project, because he failed to sell a single house. The project was abandoned in 1914. Since then Guadi had created 3 Kilometres long roads and walks, a plaza and two main gatehouses in his different style of creation. Soon the state of Barcelona acquired this property and declared this area as a public park.

 Columns are Standing under Sala Hipostila's Roof

There are two Hansel and Gretel buildings at the entrance of the park with curved roofs and decorated with colored tiles and ornamented spires. The pavilions, designed by Gaudi also the staircase at the entrance of the park. There can be a beautiful view from the top. The staircase is also guarded or decorated by a huge dragon lizard at the center. The stairs lead to the Sala Hipostila a building standing with 86 big columns. This is a huge hall under a plaza which is on the top of Sala Hipostila. This plaza was originally built as a market for the people living there. This plaza is beautiful bordered with beautiful tiled bench. A curving bench sinuously around its perimeter and designed by architect Josep Jujol, Gaudi’s nearest friend. Bench is snakelike twisted around the plaza. Tourist can enjoy a wonderful view of the city from plaza.

Roof of Casa Hipostila 

There is a house to the right is called Casa Museu Gaudi. A building with a small tower you can recognized far from. In this building Gaudi spent most of his last years from 1906 to 1926. The house was designed by Francesc Berenguer in 1904. Today the house serves as a museum. It contains some Gaudi’s furniture (including some items from La Pedrera, Casa Batllo, and Casa Calvet) and some more other memorable historic items. Buildings in the park are laced through a covered path many of them are supported by tree like columns.

Covered Paths

In 1984 the park was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, duo to its antique look. It is another honour for Gaudi’s creation.     

Decorated Benches in Park Guell

Decorated Benches in Park Guell