GAUDI-GAUDI-GAUDI

PARK GUELL:
This is a very unique and colorful park on a hill in Barcelona...where you can stroll around and enjoy tall palm trees and other gorgeous plants and flowers.  On one hill is a crucifixion scene, and nearby are these cool walkways, columns of rocks that come together to form arches like a gothic cathedral, the arches consist of carefully placed, rough rocks.  Walking under these arches is very picturesque. To read more and see more pictures...

From these views, Gaudi kept watch over his masterpiece, his project of Sangrada Familia from his last home.  But, he actually started sleeping at Sangrada at the end of his life in a modest bed on the street.  He was killed by tram as he was walking in the town's center.  They say the tram driver thought him an old bum because Gaudi dressed in frayed clothes and his pants were held up by string.

There is a big ledge/ viewing area with curving walls and many tiles...recently it became protected and now you have to pay to get into this area plus some of the other Gaudi structures.  It was sold out so all we could enter was Gaudi's last home where he lived 20 years while he was in charge of Sangrada Familia. (You pay to get in here too.)

So we toured the home he lived in for the last twenty years of his life while he was working on Sagrada Familia.  We saw his very humble bedroom with a small bed.  Nuns took care of the cleaning of this home during that time and we listened to a first-hand account of a Sister who watched over him for many years.  Apparently he cooked for himself and was a vegetarian.  He darned his own clothes and dressed much like "peasant".

Notice the grating, iron balcony is a design from one of Gaudi's buildings, he was trying to soften the appearance of the iron by making it very curvaceous and accepting of light.

The furniture he designed consist of very beautiful wood, very harmonious with nature much like Frank Lloyd Wright furniture.


SAGRADA FAMILIA:
So we HAD to go see the most famous place in Barcelona and some say the most beautiful building in the world!  See Forbes list: Most Beautiful Buildings in the World Acc. to Forbes

The main altar...the ceiling goes up SUPER high.  The interior of the church is completed according to Gaudi's plans.  The crucifix "floats" which is intentional to give you the feeling of open air, reaching to the heavens.

We toured this church (without an audio guide because I did not predict they would all be taken)...using our Lonely Planet book.  Of course the inside of the church is breathtaking.  The light gives it a wonderful feeling of open-spaces bathed in various hues of light (depending on the colors of stained glass or the colored lights in the corners).  The very high, atypical arches make it look like something from another planet.  I can't imagine what people a hundred years ago thought about Gaudi's architecture because it is not traditional.  The films consistently credit Gaudi with being way ahead of his time.

Here is a wonderful film about the construction of this majestic church:
60 minute episode about Sagrada Familia

This is the Nativity Scene on the front of the church, this part was completed during Gaudi's lifetime. There is also a large tree with greenish copper leaves that is near the top spirals.

this is the rear of the church...facing a park

Here you can watch the colors changes as the sun moves during the day.

This is the front view, you can see how they are still  constructing the exteriror and when they finish it, the main tower will be double the current height.  

CASA BATLLO:
Not far from our apartment is this AMAZING home which is so impressive, every little details. Luckily I got it right this time and we got a "Smart Tour" on cellphones where you use this 360 photography to experience some of the rooms as Gaudi supposedly intended.

(the front made to feel like an aquarium...some call it the House of Bones though because of the look of a skeleton)

All the interiors to include door frames, window frames, ceilings and fixtures are meant to feel alive and organic.  The wood is just gorgeous...always curvaceous and smooth.  It blends in with the walls; it feels delicious under your hands along the rails of the staircases.  The doors swirl and "move"; they look like they are alive.

This is a private home Gaudi designed.  He meant it to feel much like the ocean...darker colors at the bottom and as you go up, lighter colors like you are shallower.  Especially there is this tiled "shaft area" next to the elevavator where you feel like you are in a pool or an aquarium...the glass balconies are wavy to make you feel it is water.  It is all really fantastic.

The shaft area goes up 5 floors...all blue tiles.