Barcelona, Spain
Antoni
Gaudi Buildings
May 15-17
We saw from the outside 3 Gaudi buildings and a park he designed. There were 2 others we went to but they had scaffolding completely covering the facade.
We would have gone in some of these but it is definitely tourist season, Sunday was extra crowded, Monday was some kind of holiday, Tuesday we spent at the Cathedral and Textile museum, and we just plain ran out of time. Sorry. (None of them allowed photos to be taken inside anyway).
Casa Batllo
The downtown house of the Batllo family that was built 1904-1906.
La Pedrera (Casa Mila)
Built 1906-1910. The first flow is now occupied by businesses. The rest is now apartments.
There are about 2 blocks of these street lamp / benches. Neat.
Parc Guell
This area was originally built to be an upscale housing development on the the hill overlooking the city from the northwest. That failed and only a few buildings were built including a house where Gaudi lived until his death (hit by a train).
The entrance is flanked by a pair of sentry gates that are supposed to be Hansel and Gretel inspired. Directly uphill is a plaza now covered in gravel where tourists take pictures. The looping roads are very hilly.
One entrance building.
The other entrance building.
This house was Gaudi's residence. Pictures following are in his yard.
The spikes at the top of this immovable gate evoke swans.
A path to the curvy area to the left of the entrance is made to look like tunnel supported by tree trunks.
Temple Expiatori de la Sadrada Famila
This massive structure near downtown was going to be Gaudi's masterpiece, a cathedral to showcase all his oddness evidently. It was partially completed in 1926 and languished for many years. A private foundation is carrying forth with the building from tourist dollars and the scaffolding and cranes can't be avoided. They have no idea when the project will be completed, if ever as more than 10 more spires need to be built and an entire wing is barely started.
