Gaudi in Barcelona

During the group tour I fell in love with Gaudi architecture. Antoni Gaudi was a famous Catalan architect whose style, Wikipedia informs me, is Modernist. His greatest inspiration was nature which can be seen in his work. His most famous work is La Sagrada Familia, which I visited the first time I was in Barcelona. Unfortunately, Gaudi died before completing it. La Sagrada Familia remains incomplete but the goal is to have it finished by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. Apparently, Gaudi’s blueprints were destroyed by anarchists during the Spanish Civil War so the final product will not be exactly as he envisioned. One of my goals for this trip was to see the other Gaudi sites that we didn’t hit on the PRESHCO tour.

The first was Palau Guell. Sadly, it was under renovation so we only got to see the basement. Disappointing. The basement was interesting but not amazing. The best part is the roof which has the beautiful chimneys in the picture on top (see above). Naturally, that was the part that was closed.

Second was Casa Milla, also known as La Pedrera. The outside is cool. And the roof was not closed! Amazing structures on the roof. Pictures on Facebook. Love it. I don’t really know how to describe it. One of the best parts of being on the roof was that La Sagrada Familia was visible in the distance. The inside was interesting but not incredible. I just wish we could have seen more of it. It’s enormous but only a small part seems to be open to the public.

Third was Casa Batllo. Blew me away. I had a feeling it would be my favorite because it has my favorite façade. It did not disappoint. It was amazing. The blue tiles on the inside were so vivid and perfectly arranged. Once again the roof structures stole the show. The top part is so beautiful. One part of it was constructed to look like a dragon’s back and it kind of did. That part was by far my favorite. I had the opportunity to learn more about this house than Gaudi’s other works because an audio tour was part of the entrance fee and not an extra expense. This was all fine and dandy until the grating style of their narrative hit a nerve. I couldn’t bear it and just decided to look. Which is probably what Gaudi would have wanted.