JMA's World Travels

During 2002 Barcelona is celebrating 150 years since the birth of the city's most famous architect, Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) and, as we both find his work really interesting, we went to enjoy the "celebrations". Given the time of the year and the popularity of the event, we decided to have a couple of non-weekend days to avoid the queues and it turned out to be a brilliant idea!

We arrived late on the Saturday afternoon and after finding our hotel on the edge of the Gothic Quarter, near Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, we checked in and went exploring. The Gothic Quarter is really interesting and would need to be revisited during the daylight. We found our way through the mazes of passageways and streets stumbling across all sorts of interesting shops and markets, ending up in the main square with the Barcelona Cathedral dimly lit up as appropriate for the area. In true Spanish style we found a Tapas Bar for a late supper of beer and various tapas snacks.

Sunday was a beautiful warm and sunny day and so was to be our day of seeing the outdoor sights. We started off at the nearby ornate Arc de Triomf leading to the Parc de la Ciutadella and our first view of Gaudi's work, the Cascade Fountain with its serpent-tailed winged horses and cherubs at play in the water.

We carried on through the parc passing a small boating lake filled with and surrounded by families enjoying the sunny day. Next we were treated to a view of the striking Museu de Zoologia, designed by the architect Domenech i Montaner. At that point we left the parc and made our way to the trendy Placa Reial square where Barcelona's beautiful people sit at the outdoor cafes sipping coffee, watching the people wandering through the coin and stamp market in the square that is also home to Gaudi's first works in the form of lampposts.

Then on to La Rambla, Barcelona's most famous street where people stroll along, look at flower and bird markets, sit at pavement cafes and just generally enjoy the area. We stopped in at the giant indoor Mercat de La Boqueria, a fresh food, fruit, meat, chicken, fish, sweets and drinks market with all the sounds and smells to accompany the wares. Annie bought one of her favourite fruits here, a big yellow cling peach!

Next stop was just off La Rambla and our next Gaudi treat, Palau Güell, built between 1886 and 1890 as the Barcelona residence of Count Güell. Although we were too late to go inside the building we were still able to see the colourful chimneys on top of the building, each more weirdly shaped than the last.

After a delicious chicken schwarma for lunch we continued our stroll down La Rambla through the various markets and ending up at Christopher Columbus' column where he is pointing out to sea after returning from his voyage of discovery to the Americas in 1888.

Our walk then took us along the edge of Port Vell past more interesting looking buildings, markets, yacht harbours, loads of outdoor cafes and finally to the beach where we bought cold drinks and Fritos crisps and sat in the sun enjoying them! We completed a giant circular walk by walking along the beachfront to close to the Olympic village up a wide leafy tree-lined street leading to the Parc de la Ciutadella and back up to the Arc de Triomf. What a day!

Day Two was to be our "Feast" day and Annie had planned a jam-packed day of viewing starting at Casa Milà La Pedrera, the last apartment house built by Gaudí between 1906 and 1912. The building has an amazing façade of curves and shapes with beautiful iron balconies and, once inside, a completely open interior providing inside natural lighting to all apartments. Up on the roof is a "garden" of chimneys, some working, some decorative, all fantastically shaped, perhaps dreamt up rather than designed?! With all this beauty to gawk at I went a bit snap-happy with my camera but it was well worth it.

A short walk from La Pedrera took us past the Fundacio Tapies en route to the "Block of Discord" where three of Barcelona's greatest architects each believed they were the best and set out to prove that they were.

First we came to Gaudí's Casa Batlló, built between 1904 and 1906, is one of the private residences that has been opened to the public as part of the year of celebrations. What a unique house without a single straight wall, window or door and many of the walls, both inside and out, covered in colourful mosaic tiles. The design really concentrated on using as much natural light as possible with numerous windows throughout the house. Another impressive feature was that all of the doors had vents built into them that could be opened or closed depending on the weather. Unfortunately one of the rules of the visit was that no photography of the interior was allowed but that was a small price to pay for the pleasure of seeing this house!

Next in line is Josep Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller, built between 1898 and 1900 with its pink and white geometrically stepped façade in complete contrast to Gaudi's curves and shapes.

No visit to Barcelona would be complete without a visit to the Sagrada Família where construction began in 1882 by the first architect FP de Villar. He was replaced the next year by Gaudi who spent the next 40 years of his life devoted to the building of this, his most important and yet to be completed project. Gaudi ended up living on the premises for the last 15 years of his life becoming a dishevelled looking man who was unrecognisable when killed in 1926 by a tram as he crossed a nearby street. How sad that a man so important to a city was to end his life in such a way. The Sagrada Família continues to be a tribute to Gaudi as it follows a general floor plan and studies of the new structure and forms he left. Looking at the newer side of the building it is clear that each architect that is involved in the project adds their own interpretation to shape, form and style. It is hoped that the Sagrada Família will be completed by around 2030!

The final stop on our self-made Gaudi tour was Park Güell, built between 1900 and 1904, it is an almost surreal experience with its fairytale Gingerbread-House style gatehouses, mosaic lizard and mosaic-covered walls. A stunning serpentine-like curved mosaic bench tops all of this with views of the 20-hectare park, the Gothic Archways and the entire city of Barcelona. We took up position at the café overlooking all of this and had coffee to reflect on a day that we will remember for a long time.

Our hotel-bound bus dropped us at one last site for the day, the Font de Canaletes. Inscribed on the fountain is the legend that all who drink from it "will fall in love with Barcelona and always return". Although I know we will definitely return to Barcelona I made sure of it by drinking some of the fountain water (-:

Our last day was spent wandering through a few shops and then returning to the beachfront for a last look at the ocean before flying back to London. I am already looking forward to our next trip to Barcelona!