Gaudi is a pretty cool guy, well his artwork is anyways. Devonne and I have seen 3 of his major pieces in Barcelona: Parc Güel, Sagrada Familia and Casa Batlló.
Parc Güel
We first went to Parc Güel which was super cool and free, which is always nice. We got a little lost getting there but once we arrived, we spent a few hours wandering around. The park is situated on a hill and Gaudi designed the area after it failed as a housing decelopment. The mosaics, colors and detail was beautiful. Being around lots of trees and eating lunch in nature was something that I have missed in Edmonton (I'm looking forward to seeing the river valley when I'm back).
It has been nice not being limited by time so we can stay as long as want at certain places. In this park we happened upon some musicians (Microguagua) who were super fun to listen to so we stayed for a bit to watch them and ended up buying their CD. It was pretty warm out so after listening to the band we decided to head back to the hostel to relax a bit before supper.
Sagrada de Familia
This is definitely the highlight of Barcelona. It is the thing to see if you're here. We got there 20 min before opening and there was already a little line and by the time the doors openes the line was quite long. Anyways, I got the audio tour which allowed me to gain a bit of insight into what Gaudi was trying to create, although it's still a lof guessing as to what all the details meant. As the Cathedral is still under construction even though Gaudi is dead, the pictures I got weren't the best.
I first saw the Cathedral at night and the one side of it was so detailed and I remember being in awe, but the other side gave me an eerie feeling and I wasn't sure why that was. I found out in the audio tour that Gaudi wanted to create this eerie tone on the front of the Church because it depicted the series of events that lead up to Jesus' crucifixion, so he did a good job in my opinion. The inside of the Cathedral was stunning and my pictures definitely don't give it justice.
Casa Batlló
Gaudi rennovated this house into something spectacular. It had an ocean/ water feel, but also seemed to be based around a scaled dragon or something of the like. There are no straight lines in the house, just rounded corners and rolling waves almost. He focused on the smallest details, like making sure the oak banisters fit the hand, designing cast iron door knobs that could be easily held, simple slats to create ventilation and making windows smaller as they got higher up because they would receive more light. The outside of the house and the the rooftop were decorated in mosaics. It was definitely a fun place to visit.
My thoughts
I don't understand how someone can think up these things. It was all so intricately mapped out and every detail thought out so it all worked together. It was so beautiful and shocking. I wanted my pictures to capture what I saw and felt but they don't do it justice. I understand why he is so famous. He did some great pieces in his life.
Pictures: The pictures are in the order I mentioned in this blog
Seeing La Sagrada Familia is on my bucket list. I'm so jelly. Gaudi is my favorite architect. I had to give a presentation in him completely en espanol for class last year. The ceiling is my favorite part on the inside. It's amazing how revolutionary Gaudi was because, as you look up, you can actually almost trace the history of architecture in the grecian columns, and the different styles of windows. Then you get to the adornment on the pillars from the Modernisme era, which was what was just coming out when Gaudi started. Then it moves up to the incredibly symmetric and geometric canopy that falls in line with what we think of as modern today, which would've been so futuristic at the time. In my head, the columns and canopy, especially with the branching, represent trees, and therefore the growth of humanity as it reaches closer to God. And the pillars look pretty when the light shines through the stained glass windows, like a kaleidoscope. Was it magical? Like what I imagine walking into the Great Hall would be? I like Gaudi's building that look like they're ginger bread houses, and their icing is melting. Did you see the cool swirly ceiling at Casa Batllo? I really like weird ceilings. Think of how much cooler it would be going to sleep of the ceilings looked cooler. Gah, I wish I was there too.
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