Barcelona: An Ode to Gaudi

Barcelona truly blew me away!  I have always said that my heart belongs to Buenos Aires, but Barcelona comes a very close second.  The architecture, Mediterranean climate, amazing food, and delicious wine - it's a city that gets me.  We spent five full days in Barcelona.  We had a very full agenda each day, but I could easily spend another week there and not run out of things to do.  We used the remaining free nights in Hilton properties to stay at a beautiful hotel in the center of town (more on that in another post) and spent hours each day walking the beautiful boulevards and enjoying the 60 degree Mediterranean sun.  Barcelona is my favorite European city (so far!). 

One of the most obviously beautiful parts of the city is it's architecture, much of it designed or inspired by Antoni Gaudi.   Few people have the ability to influence an entire city's architecture in the way that Gaudi and his beautiful modernism style and mosaics did for Barcelona.  The only city I can think of that is similar in its singular inspiration in Brasilia which is designed primarily by Oscar Neimyer.  In any case, we had the chance to see several of Gaudi's works and the intricate detail of each site was just stunning.  Below are a few of my photos from our Gaudi stops.

Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's ultimate masterpiece - a cathedral in the center of town.  P remarked "this is the most impressive building I have ever been in."  If you know my husband, you will know that this is the ultimate compliment (he speaks in superlatives). The structure was started in 1882 and is still not complete.  They have continued to build on Gaudi's vision based on his plaster models for what the church should look like.  The symbology, reflections of nature, and use of light were the most impressive I have ever seen.  They hope to finish the final spires by the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death in 2026. 

One side of the outside - you'll see the careful carving of the passion.  The other side depicts the the birth of Christ.  The detail is amazing. 

The grand nature of the inside is hard to capture because it is such an enormous space, but below is one vantage point of the beautiful ceiling and columns: 

 The light of the church is surprising. It appears that there are almost colored lights illuminating the space, but in reality, it's just light from the stained glass.

We also visited Park Guell which was designed for one of Gaudi's patrons, Mr. Guell.  It is famous for a bench that is not only the longest in the world, but also impressively decorated in the mosaic style.  We were there early in the morning, so it was hard to capture good photos in the light, but I gave it my best shot.

The amazing mosaic bench surrounded by palm trees: 

Th view from below - check out the amazing cave like structure of the columns:

A close up of one of the mosaics - they are all quite different in the tiles used:

A beautiful Gaudi-designed building in the park: 

 

On our last day, we visited Casa Battlo which was designed for a wealthy Catalan family.  It is a seven-story town house that contained no straight lines.  Often called the house of bones for its outward, bone-like structure, the tour gave you insight into the detailed nature of Gaudi's design.  He not only designed the house, he also designed many pieces of its furniture.  Genius!

Amazing mosaic chimneys: 

This light was truly incredible:

Remember I mentioned not a single straight line in the house...this was on the top floor where the servants / maids worked.  Especially incredible: