July 3, 2008
We woke up and got ready before heading out to see Barcelona. We began with breakfast at Nuria, a nice cafe where we had the best freshly squeezed pineapple (pina) juice along with toast and a mini sandwich. We started off on our journey like so many other cities, going to the tourist information at Placa de Catalunya to see if there was any city information. One thing we noticed while walking around Placa de Catalunya were the number of dead pigeons. We immediately saw 3, and 2 of them did not even have heads. As we would find out tomorrow the pigeons here are cannibalistic, we saw one pigeon eating the head off of another. Not very pleasant at all. Enough of that.
Our first stop was at Casa Batllo, designed by architect Gaudi. I am absolutely fascinated by his works, I do believe that he is my favorite architect and Barcelona is my favorite architechtural city. Casa Batllo is built to represent a dragon being slayed by a warrior. The roof looks like the back of the dragon, a chimney is designed to look like a sword going through the dragon, the balconies look like skulls, the large front window represents the dragons mouth, complete with bones, there were interior windows that looked like dragons eyes and sea turtles swimming. It went on and on like this. Nothing that Gaudi designs is square or straight, no straight walls or floors, no corners, etc. Even the ceilings and floors are wavy and the walls are curved. It is amazing. And, the house was very colorful, the entire elevator shaft was all shades of blues. I could go on and on about Casa Batllo but could never do it the justice it deserves, the house was stunning.
The dragon roof of Casa Batllo:
Here is the back from on top of the roof:
Light fixtures set in the ceiling:
Looking outside onto the main street:
The same window looking in from the street:
Another view of the front:
Skylight:
The balcolnies resemble skulls of the dragons victims:
We then walked to La Pedrera, another Gaudi house. This house had 2 open courtyards in the building where you can look up to the sky. This house was several apartments, one that you can visit was even fitted with furniture from the 20's to help you realize what it would have been like back then. The roof was by far the most spectacular part of La Pedrera. There were so many chimneys, each made to look like warriors or groups of warriors. Again, here the floors are wavy and intricate, and the views were amazing from the roof. While La Pedrera was not as colorful as Casa Batllo it was still an amazing building.
Exterior of La Pedrera
More of the exterior:
Closeup of the balcolny:
The 'soldier' statues on the roof:
Greg with another set of statues:
Another statue... this one can almost be a Pez Dispenser
Tami on the roof:
Greg on the roof:
The interior courtyard:
At this point we decided to go ahead and take the hop on hop off bus to our next destination, La Segrada Familia. This is one of the most massive, detailed, and amazing cathdrals I have ever seen. The church was started by Gaudi in the early 1900's but was not finished during his life, he was unexpectedly killed in 1926 when he was hit by a tram, but he did live to see 1 of the 8 spires completed. The Nativity side of the church was designed by Gaudi and is very gothic. The ohter side is being done by Josef Subirachs and is much more modern, very square, even the faces of The Passion are square. Both sides are amazing but completely different.
The outside of La Sagrada Familia on the nativity side:
More of the nativity side:
Closeup of the nativity side:
The Passion side:
Another sculpture on the Passion side:
Stained glass window inside:
The ceiling on the inside:
The columns are based on trees in a forest:
Once inside La Segrada Familia the masterpiece continues. The tall pillars are shaped like trees and at the top of each a large sunflower bursts to life. The roof is not complete, but they hope it will be done by 2010, while the remainder of the church is expected to be completed by 2030. It is taking so long because Gaudi had requested that the church be built solely on public donations and not from any government funding. Greg and I decided to take the elevator ride up one of Gaudi's spires to see the views over Barcelona. Once up at the top (a very long way) the only way down is through stairs. It was really neat because the stairs are all spiral and go throughout the different spires on the Gaudi side of the church, it is kind of like a maze because you can take different paths and kind of get lost. At one point we were even standing over top of the Nativity looking down upon it.
Tami and Greg on the spire:
Me at the top of the spire:
The steps going down the spire
Greg on the spire:
The top of the lower columns have fruit and other things on them:
After about 20 minutes or so we made it back to the ground and took another walk around the church and then through the museum. Gaudi's crypt is in the museum, and it is supposed to be a vision of it's own, but it is closed for renovation work. Inside the museum were numerous models of the various parts of the church, some stood more than 15 feet tall. We then decided it was time to eat, so we went across the street to Babalonia Gaudi and enjoyed rice balls with cheese, pizza, and Rioja. This was our only real meal the entire time we were in Barcelona.
We got back on the bus and headed to Parc Guell, another of Gaudi's designs. The parc is another of his very colorful and eclectic pieces of work. The main symbol is the Trencadis Lizard. It reminds me of very large decopage work. We took some pictures with the lizard and then started walking through the park. There were various levels, stairs, caves, tunnels, paths, etc. We got to the top level of the park to enjoy the most amazing views of Barcelona so far. But, the views were not the best thing. Along the entire edge of the top level was a wavy, porcelain bench. Again, the bench is in his Trencadis style and is very colorful, it is another iconic symbol of Parc Guell. After walking for quite a while we found a nice shaded bench so I could take a quick nap, I needed to reenergize for the rest of the day.
Tami with the Trencadis Lizard at Parc Guell:
The curved bench at Parc Guell:
Tami & Greg on the bench in Parc Guell:
We decided we were ready for some leisurely sightseeing and got back on the bus and just rode it around for about an hour, through the Olympic Village, Montjuic, and back down towards the Mediterranean Sea. We got off at the Christopher Columbus statue, which is the end of La Rambla, the main pedestrian thoroughfare. From here we walked up La Rambla and went into Mercat La Boqueria, their world famous Market. Here is where you can find walls of fruits, all laid out so pretty. There is lots of fish and other seafood as well. We ended up getting watermelon, pineapple, coconut, and freshly made juices to have as a snack, since dinner doesn't really start until 8:30 or so. We walked up La Rambla back to Placa de Catalunya where we sat in front of the Rodin statue and enjoyed our fruit.
We took the bus back up to Casa Batllo where we walked to Kirin (japanese restaurant) for dinner that was recommended to us by Dan. We were looking forward to it but were really just in the mood for sushi and not a whole lot of food. Unfortunately, it is a hibachi style restaurant where you pick what you want and they cook it for you, and it is all included, so we ended up leaving to find dinner elsewhere where we could get something smaller to eat. We walked through the Gothic quarter (Barri Gotic) and ended up eating at a little place called Can Gabi, where we enjoyed nachos, chorizo quesadilla, and Cava. At this point it was nearing 11 pm and I was exhausted, so we just headed back to our room for some much needed sleep.
On our balcony before heading to bed:
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