The day after we did the bike tour (which if you made it through entire post I wrote about it you should be rewarded lavishly), we went on a free walking tour to see the works of the famous architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926). Gaudi is probably the most famous architect from Barcelona, partly for his brilliance, but also for his eccentricity. One look at his works and you might say that his architecture is quite gaudy (which means ostentatiously ornamented or garish). The word 'gaudy' does not, as you'd suppose, stem from the name 'Gaudi' (the tour guide reminded us of this) as there are instances of 'gaudy' in literature that predates the architect.
Okay, history lesson over. Now I've got to run through the walking tour for you (ha ha, that's funny. I'm laughing so hard at my unintentional joke right now).
If you visit the website via the link I gave earlier in this post for the walking tour, you could find out about the sites they visit. OR you could do something even better, and just keep reading.
The walking tour starts out at Placa Reial (really big, really old).
It didn't take long for us to make ourselves at home as we waited for the tour to start.
First stop . . . the lamp post right behind us. Gaudi's first public commission. He didn't get paid much for it for some reason. The story goes that it is supposed to resemble a tree. An iron tree, perhaps.
We visited Gaudi's first real masterpiece (the lampost was not considered one of his greatest achievements). This building is Palau Guell, commissioned by its owner Esebi Guell. It was because of Guell that Gaudi ever made it as an architector. Essentially, Guell told Gaudi to do whatever he wanted no matter the cost. And Gaudi did.
Wrought ironwork was one of Gaudi's specialties. Can you spot the E and the G (the owner's initials) atop the gates?
Casa Batllo stands out along the street as nothing I've seen before. Yes, you're not alone in thinking the balconies look like skulls. Kind of creepy to look at, but then you get up close and you can see the masterpiece behind it.
If it didn't cost so much to go inside the buildings, I would have gone.
This was the closest we got to the house of bones, mostly just to prove we were there.
The next stop was the Casa Mila. The owner of this monstrosity saw the Casa Batllo and said "I want that, but only bigger."
Well, he got bigger, but because the owner was such a pain in the patootie to work with, Gaudi just did his best to finish the job and get out of there with his check, but not until after he snuck a few architectural "liberties" at the patron's expense, like this strange bird that builds its nest with poo (which is somehow a metaphor for the owner).
The next part of our tour brought us to our old friend. For those who have read the previous posts, what building is this?
All together now, “La Sagrada Familia!”
Yes, Gaudi was the architect. After he got fed up with penny-pinching patrons, he turned his sight to the heavens and committed the rest of his life to this temple.
At first glance it just looks like melting rock, but when you get up close to it, you realize the phenomenal attention to detail and you can't but marvel at the awesomeness (and enormity) of it all.
Sadly this was the most successful family picture of the day. Where's Mark?
This just shows the amazing detail I was talking about. Gaudi made plaster models of real people and animals in the sculpting of the statues.
The manger scene.
Herod's vengeance. (FYI: the soldier has six toes because the man used for the statue had six toes, and Gaudi thought that was something a Roman soldier would do well to have)
Mary on the donky, holding Jesus as they depart out of Nazareth.
Angel on the harp.
In fact this whole side is the Christmas story. This, by the way, was the only side Gaudi finished before he died.
Which is why the opposite side looks like this, complete with storm troopers. Actually, the storm troopers and that man in profile on the left are a hidden tribute to Gaudi, but I don't want to spoil it for you so you'll have to figure it out on your own in Barcelona (Janeen).
This side is the crucifixion side. The other two sides will show other parts of Christ's life and ministry, but they're not finished yet.
Now, inside the church is a whole other story. I don't even know where to begin, and I could never do it justice. I'll just say it was absolutely amazing (for me, at least). Recommendation from a parent. Don't waste your money on the kids audio tour, and if you do, just get one and have the kids share it. Also, the adult audio tour does not coincide with the kids one, so be prepared to either not be able to listen to your audio tour because you're helping the kiddos with theirs, or do as I did and just ignore them while you wander around with your headphones on (sorry kids, I can't hear you. I'm learning right now).
I took lots of pictures, but they do little to capture the majesty of the place, so here's just a couple of them. Look, and then plan to go yourself when you get to Barcelona. Tip: buy tickets online (mentioned in previous post) and save yourself the line.
Here's something cool. Gaudi made this model with string and weighted bags in his design. Turn your head (or your computer monitor) upside down and tell me what you see.
Of course this was the kids' favorite part of the tour inside the church (oh, by the way, the walking tour doesn't take you inside any buildings, so you've got to do that on your own).
Pretty cool hanging out at the playground in the shadow of the most famous incomplete building in the world.
Alex was just playing perfectly fine by himself, then this local kid came along and I thought it would be instant friendship (another kid who like to get his hands dirty) but turns out the kid just destroyed whatever it was Alex created. I tried to explain to Alex that natural disasters usually occur without warning, but he wouldn't go for it.
And then dinner. The tour guide recommended a Tapas (basically al a carte appetizers to share) restaurant. It was difficult to order because even though the menu was "translated" in English, we still didn't know what anything was. So the server just showed us everything in the case so we could just point to what we wanted. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but I wouldn't go there again. Everything was very greasy and not so tasty . . .
Except the garbanzo beans with peppers and garlic (not pictured because we ate it all!). We also got paella for Alex, but that was actually really gross. So we were put off a bit with paella and tapas, and I didn't really want to try any more Catalan food.
Stay tuned for the next post where I change my mind, though and find some delicious tapas and paella (comes with a price though).
Rob
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