Barcelona: Gaudi's Home Town

On our last full day in Barcelona, we got another early start to do some sightseeing. Our main interest was to see some of the many works of the famous architect, Antonio Gaudi. I must confess to never having heard of the guy until I started planning and researching this trip. He is quite famous here in Spain, and specifically, in Barcelona.


Gaudi was born in Reus, Catalonia in 1852 but made Barcelona his home when he came here in 1873 to attend architecture school. He belonged to the Modernism/Art Nouveau movement and was famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs. Gaudí was an ardent Catholic, to the point that in his later years, he abandoned secular work and devoted his life to Catholicism and his work, the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family, also known as the Temple de la Sagrada Familia. It is for this, his most famous structure that Gaudí is known to many in Spain as "God's Architect". It was started in 1882 by Francisco del Villar in Barcelona, and is still not completely finished. In 1884, Gaudi took over the construction, and after a time, changed the plans so that the temple was no longer being built in the Gothic Revival style. Sadly, he never got to finish his masterpiece because in 1926, Gaudí was run over by a tram. The story goes that because of his ragged attire and empty pockets, multiple cab drivers refused to pick him up for fear that he would be unable to pay the fare. He was eventually taken to a pauper's hospital in Barcelona. Nobody recognized the injured artist until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to move him into a nicer hospital, Gaudí refused, reportedly saying "I belong here among the poor." He died two days later with half of Barcelona mourning his death. It was, perhaps, fitting that he was buried in the midst of his unfinished masterpiece, La Sagrada Família. The temple continued to be constructed until 1936, when Gaudi's plans were burnt by a shelling during the Spanish Civil War. In 1952, construction began again, and is still ongoing.

Unfortunately, it was difficult to see and/or photograph this colossal work as almost the entire structure was under repair and covered in scaffolding. Who knows which parts were being repaired or were unfinished to begin with? Nonetheless we enjoyed it from the outside.
The front and back sides of Sagrada Familia hardly look like the work of the same architect they are so different. The photos below were taken of the western end where we thought a lot of the design looked like sand-castle drippings....





As we walked along the north side of the church, another style completely, we saw this beautiful wall of stained glass windows...

Here you see the eastern end where things are much more angular and severe. The sculptures on the eastern end of Sagrada were all angular and hard... as you see in these below. We think they are the stations of the cross with the crucified Christ appropriately occupying center stage.

As we'd gotten a very early start, our next stop was a nearby Starbucks. This was the first Starbucks either Nick, Sarah or I had been in over four months. As far as we know or have seen, they do not exist in southern France however we saw quite a few Starbucks in Barcelona. I know Lindsey has a cute, little one just around the corner from her dorm in Charleston and Nicholas must frequent them in Newport as he marched right up to the counter and asked for a "grande, peppermint, mocha latte"!

Next, we walked quite a ways toward another major boulevard, La Diagonal. Yes, it is diagonal! Near here, Nicholas adeptly navigated us to our next stop , Passeig de Gracia, to see Gaudi's Casa Mila or "La Pedrera". This building is "considered to be Modernism at its best with its impressive facade of undulating stone and wrought-iron balconies."


From here we took a bit of time to check out the shops, street scenes etc. We particularly liked these two wonderful bronze sculptures...

Nick liked this doorway...

and we couldn't resist(thinking about eating) this amazing marzipan cake!

Further on down Passeig de Grazia we found another of Gaudi's masterpieces; Casa Batillo. The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (house of bones), and it does have a really skeletal, organic quality to it. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in this prosperous district of Barcelona. We were intrigued by the irregular windows, his use of mosaic and the flowing sculpted stone work.



We continued our march south down the Gracia and finally stopped in a little place for a so-so lunch. More window shopping specifically for boots and shoes for the kids and without any luck but a lot of fatigue, headed back to the apartment. We were weary walkers in need of a rest before going out for dinner. We were headed to The Attic, the only other restaurant which had been recommended to us which we also, miraculously, found by accident. It's located on the right side of La Rambla, near the top, and worth trying out.... if you happen to be in the neighborhood! we ahd a great meal and lots of laughs...a perfect way to end the trip!