Barcelona
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| Admiring Gaudi's Park Guell detail |
From La
Sagrada Familia, we took a bus to Park Guell, a Modernist park set on Carmel Hill, above and on the outskirts of Barcelona. Guell’s plan called for a private and
exclusive housing estate offering gardens, fresh air and panoramic vistas over
Barcelona. Only two houses (1904) of the sixty
planned were ever built, and at Guell’s suggestion, Gaudi moved onto the estate
(Casa Gaudi) to begin work on developing it.
After Guell’s death, his family donated the estate for use as a public
park. His mansion now houses a public
school and some areas of the park entail an entrance fee to better manage its
heritage listed features. Gaudi’s house
is a museum which sadly we had no time to visit.
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| Save your broken dinner plates & tiles... |
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| View over Barcelona & Park Guell Entrance Gates |
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Gaudi's most famous character;
imagine the time needed to mosaic this beast! |
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| Gaudi's House in Park Guell |
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| Oh look, it comes with a pixie too! |
After an hour exploring Park
Guell, we made our way back down to the city’s prestigious shopping precinct,
Passeig de Gracia to the “Block of Discord**”, a city block known for its Moderniste
buildings, showcasing the work of four main exponent architects. Our key interest was Gaudi (of course!) so we
alighted at Casa Mila, also known as
La Pedrera (stone quarry). This 8
storeyed block, previously apartments, was designed around two circular
courtyards. The building’s white stone
façade undulates fluidly, like waves on an ocean; iron balustrading
highlighting this theme, resembed seaweed.
In the afternoon light Casa Mila’s white tiled roof sparkled, beautifully
evoking Spain’s snowy mountain tops. It
is possible to visit parts of the building (now office space) so we added that
to our growing “Maybe List” for a last day in Barcelona splurge. And that would be tomorrow!
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| Casa Mila |
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| Casa Mila's organic shapes |
A short
stroll down Passeig de Gracia, passing way too many high end fashion boutiques, we
came to the front of Casa Batllo. This building is said to symbolise St George
killing the dragon, with its bold scaly roof scattered with claw-like chimneys
and a garlic-shaped dome. Spindly
columns led to the building being nick-named the “House of Bones”, while
balconies appear clad with giant masks.
Salvador Dali (another very creative Catalan artist) is said to have referenced
the building to a stormy sea. Either
way, it is incredibly individual, detailed, colourful and intricate –
quite overwhelming even today. It’s
difficult to imagine such a departure from “standard” and cultural
architectural models of the day. Parts
of this building are also open for public inspection, so we added that to our
List too.
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Sadly, the colours don't show in the
afternoon shadows |
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| Close up of bone-like columns |
Casa
Batllo’s close neighbours include fascinating Casa Amatller (by Cadafalch) and decorative Casa Lleo Morera, now fronted by an exclusive Catalan
boutique. We were able to walk into Casa
Amatller’s tiled patio entrance and peer up at a stunning glass skylight. Just tempters for yet another guided tour to
learn more about this movement and the incredible constructions arrived at as a
consequence.
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| Casa Amatller |
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| Decorative details are so inspiring.... |
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| Catalan pride - St George giving it to the naughty dragon |
We didn’t
finish our tour until well after 7.30pm, so decided to walk back through
the Barri Gotic, losing ourselves to the evocative streets of old
Barcelona. We found a spot to eat
frequented by young locals who clearly live in and love their city, and ordered
an express plate – a ready-picked, rather delicious tapas selection. Focusing on the food made us forget those
challenging decisions we had to make for our next day’s program. Too. Many. Choices!
** So
called, because the buildings clash with each other and neighbouring buildings.
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