Barcelona is a Gaudi City

Oh goodness Oh goodness.

On Thursday we woke at a reasonable hour for our complementary free breakfast. It was worth every cent we paid...

From the hostel we set off in search of bicycles upon which we would see the crazy architecture of Barcelona. Here's us in action:




Biking was so much fun! There weren't really any designated lanes for biking so instead we rode on the sides of the busy streets, which is so exciting. I really felt like a part of this bustling city as I sped through intersections and past cars. Sure, it's a bit dangerous and maybe somewhat reckless, but these word are synonymous with adventure, and that's what really counts.

Barcelona is full of buildings designed by Spanish and Catalan architect Antionia Gaudi. His works generally have unusual organic and wavy forms and he periodically used detailed colorful mosaics as part of the facade or other decoration. Basically, he's about as crazy as any other Spaniard. I, of course, mean crazy in a positive sense, as in: creative, unique, awesome, and going beyond the norm. Basically, the kind of "crazy" I aspire too.

I have been told that all Spaniard are a little crazy. I should like to test this hypothesis.

Anyway, we biked around to see a number of his urban works.

The Casa Milà:




Casa Batlló (I think):




This Church was designed by Gaudi's mentor:


It was closed for Mass when we showed up, unfortunately.

The most prominent of Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona is "La Sagrada Familia", a cathedral and symbol of Barcelona along the lines of the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State building. As cathedrals go it is pretty interesting looking:



By the way, it is, in fact, still under construction. Construction began in 1882 and is scheduled for completion in 2026, 100 years after Gaudi's death. In terms of construction time it definitely joining the ranks of other European cathedrals.


1882!




From what I'm told, when completed the cathedral will have 12 of these towers, each one representing one Apostle, around an even larger central tower.




Look at the fruit on the tips there! Apparently that's typical Gaudi.

The cathedral is laid out like a cross and has three prominent thematic facades with sculptures. The oldest facade, Nativity, was constructed during Gaudi's lifetime and under his supervision. The first picture up above is the nativity facade. The Glory facade is still under construction but the Passion facade is pretty well finished. Check out some details below.



The Ascension:





The sculptures on this Facade were done after Gaudi's death by an architect with a slightly different vision and aesthetic. This side is somewhat controversial among the Gaudi purists.

From there we rode our bikes uphill to check out the city from a distance.



I found a cactus!



And here's the group, triumphant atop the ridge. You can see La Sagrada Familia between my and Mang-git's heads.



And off again, to another Gaudi highlight in town, Park Güell. Here's the entrance:









All over this park were these wonderfully colorful and detailed mosaics like the ones in the ceiling here:



I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to oversee the construction of something like this. Everything is so artistic and painstakingly detailed and there is no way that he did it all on his own. That says to me that he had a construction team that he could trust to stick to his vision and his aesthetic. With all the stress I've had in the past with small team projects I can't imagine constructing something like this without dying of a stress heart attack.





I read later on that this little guy got bashed in by some hoodlums in 2007 and had to have it's head reconstructed:





We rode back to our hostel from there, making a stop along the way to eat a late lunch. I really enjoyed the ride back because we were riding downhill through town. So fast!

With the time we had left on our bike rental we rode over to the beach to hang out for an hour or so. I didn't take any pictures of the beach, which was really stupid in hindsight. Oh well.

The water was really cold, being early May, but we still jumped in. Thank goodness it was sunny.


Later that evening we returned our bikes, showered, and met up with our friends for more tapas and Spanish wine. Here's a picture of Brad, Julie, Sarah, and I:



I think Mang-git had gone back to go to bed before this, that's why he's not in there.




This is taking so much longer than I wanted, sorry about that. I have so many more great Barcelona pictures and stories still to share, so stay tuned.