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Published: June 12th 2013
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Today I spent all of my time with Mr. Antoni Gaudi. Well obviously Mr. Gaudi is dead as he was hit by a tram in 1926, so figuratively speaking. I dedicated the day to seeing all his works of art finished and unfinished alike, and I started with Casa Batllo. But first a side note.
A girl walks into a Starbucks and orders her iced chai latte. The woman asks her name, she says clearly"Shannon" as for some reason people tend to have issues with it. The woman doesn't hesitate and scribbles on the side of the cup. Well that was easy. Few minutes later a man is holding an iced chai latte yelling" Jennifer? Jennifer?" Seriously.... All the time.....
But I digress, back to Casa Bastllo, is a "house" of sorts that Gaudi had designed, and is owned by a family as of today, who uses the ticket price to fund the upkeep of the building. Antoni Gaudi influence, which always comes from nature, seemed particularly influenced by dragons and fish. The staircase banisters look like the spine of a dragon, the ceilings and walls have a rippling effect. The columns and paint almost look like fish scales.
He took a lot of broken tile to create a mosaic pattern. He also built the house functionally as he created a central light well and cleverly placed windows that allow natural light to fill each room in the house. He also designed functional cutouts in doors and windows to allow ventillation. The attic is a series of cantenary arches that are made to look like the ribcage of the dragon. And of course you cant talk about Casa Batllo without talking about the dragon scale roof. This building is a must see.
Onto the next Gaudi mission, La Pedrera. An apartment building Gaudi had designed. This building had a wavy undulating stone facade. The interior opens up again to an open roof central light well. We go to the roof where there are multiple chimneys in almost a hoodoo like fashion. Scattered around the roof. The apartments are interesting in the way they are designed. They seemed quite large for an apartment. The attic had the same sense of style as casa batllo, cantenary arches made of brick. The theme as before runs throughout the building. I dont have any more time to spend, so onto the next
Gaudi mission. Parc Guell.
Parc guell was originally built as a housing development, but it didnt sell. It got turned over to the city as public space and now a major tourist attraction.
I hop onto the hop on hop off bus again, this time the blue line. Head up towards the park, which is a bit of a walk uphill after the stop. Somehow with all the stuff Ive already done this morning, I didnt realize how short of time Id be. I need to get to Sagrada Famillia a bit before 3 and its 2:15. So I make it quick. I race thru the parc, up the ornate stair case with cut glass tile and water feature, breeze thru the tall columns, and up top there is a vast space with the undulating benches with cut tile rimming the area. It has a great view of the city. But the one thing I want to see is the iguana that is pictured anytime Parc Guell is mentioned. I stopped a park worker,who didnt speak English and before i could say anything he said" salamander? " he points to the round about id have to take .
I look at my watch. Ugh might as well run over and get a picture of the dam thing. I take the path, and nothing. I turn and look up the steps and see the cool water feature so I run up there and quickly snap a photo before running off in search for a taxi...., without my iguana picture...dam. Update: upon looking closer at the stock photos of Parc Guell I am pretty sure that stupid "salamander" was on those steps and that means I completely overlooked it. Twice. Awesome.
So best for last. Sagrada famillia. I had passed it earlier on the bus , and must say, this basilica knows how to make an impression. Its grande, and tall, and busy. The amount of detail on every inch of stone, and the plans for the scale of if, its no wonder its taken this long to construct. They predict by 2026 it will finally be finished. It wasn't till 2010 that they actually finished the church part that the pope came by for a visit and held mass. Because there is a cathedral in Barcelona, Sagrada familla can only be a basillica. Im not brushed up on
my religious knowledge so Im not sure the difference. Seems like a cathedral the main church.
The actual structure is something to be seen Antoni Gaudi took all inspiration from nature, as is reflected in the towers with fruit crowning thier points. Inside the columns are made to look like the bottom of A sequoia tree and its leaves create ths light diffusion on the ceiling. Stained glass windows bounce reds and purples on the floor , and symbolsim is everywhere. They say Gaudi didnt like to draw but rather make stone models, a lot of which were destroyed during the spanish civil war. I cant imagine how long it would have taken him to create the mini models with all the intricacies, its no wonder it will still take them years to complete. Awesome experience.
So now im tired. I feel a relaxing shopping/beach day coming on. Tomorrw agenda: slack and paella!
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Dana
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Wow!
Beautiful! It seems so modern for it's time. He must have been an aquarius!