Barcelona - Day 108

Date: December 4th, 2009
Distance: None
Country: Spain
Song of the Day: Barcelona - Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé

After breakfast, I wanted to check out some of the Gaudi buildings in the city. I really hadn't heard much about him before I got to the city. His work is great though, mixing a modern style with naturalistic forms. Neat stuff, and I wanted to see it. (If you haven't figured it out already I am interested in architecture.) Tim was game to wander about the city as well so we took off.

The first place we saw was the Casa Batllo. I think this was my favorite of his works. The others were cool, but this one is something special. The structure, really the facade, looks like trees or bones. So there is a very natural feeling to it. The windows were in flowing shapes as well. So the frames were curved in interesting ways. I liked it a lot.

The next place was the Casa Mila. I guess this was also known as "the quarry" as it wasn't very well liked. It wasn't bad, but not quite as good as the Casa Batllo. Still it was neat. And I wouldn't say no if someone offered me a place there. Also, I wish I had gone inside. The courtyard is supposed to pretty amazing.

After that we went was the Parc Guell. It wasn't the easiest place to find, but we did get there in the end. The best way I could describe the park is as if Dr. Suess' drawings were made reality. It has this whimsical nature in the buildings and terraces. They just seem to flow. Cool stuff. Also, you just can't beat the view over the city.

From there Tim and I headed to the Sagrada Familia, Guadi's unfinished masterpiece. The one he was working on when he died. And guess what, it still isn't finished. Check back in 2026. Though I guess they are thinking of opening up a portion of it to tourists next year. When you first look at it, the church appears to be in the gothic or neo-gothic style. But once you get up close you see that it lacks all the vertical lines you would expect. Plus the towers are round and not square. The arches instead of being the classic pointed arch are now sections of parabolic curves. It is clearly from a designer who has a much more nuanced view than: higher is closer to God. Because of these curves and more natural forms it is probably one of the most unique and interesting churches in Europe.

With our little tour done for the day, Tim and I headed back to the hostel. When we arrived a bunch of people were getting ready to go to lunch and then a tour of Montjuic. Tim had other stuff to do, but I wanted to go. The place we went was pretty neat. Three course meal of starter, main and desert. I couldn't tell you what style it was though. It had a catalan influince, but the style of food was from all over Europe. I even ended up randomly sitting at the table with three girls from Seattle.

From there we got a guided tour of Montjuic, including the Olympic park. I didn't realize that Barcelona had wanted the Olypics for 60 years, and had actually built many of the structures in the 20's to accomodate it. But for various reasons (Spanish Civil War, etc.) it never happend. At least until 1992, when many of the buildings were refurbished.

Then it was off to watch the Magic Fountain. Don't miss this one. It is music with a water fountain going off in rythum. There ware also colored lights. It happens every night, and the best part is that it is free. So if you find yourself in Barcelona, gather some people, grab a spot on the grass and just watch the show. You won't be dissapointed.

After that, the rest of the night was pretty calm. I spent it mostly at the hostel hanging out with people there.

-Dravis