Barcelona

Well, bear with me guys, this is a long one. Barcelona - what a unique city! It is a lot busier that Granada, but it is beautiful. Definately one of my favorite places so far. There are two things that make Barcelona what it is: Las Ramblas and the works of Gaudi.

Las Ramblas

Las Ramblas is a 1.2 km stretch of pedestrian road that reaches from Plaza Cataluna to the Harbor. Garcia Lorca (a very famous Spanish autor from Granada) is quote as saying that Las Ramblas is the only road that he wished would never end. It is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with good reason.

The walk is split up into four sections with many street preformers and outside cafes inbetween. First, you walk though an area full of little pets for sales - lots of birds, turtles, hamsters, bunnies, etc. It fun to watch the kids here. Then, there is the flower section. Que bonito! I loved this section, shop after shop full of all kinds of flowers. Next is the artists. They either draw pictures of you or of the city. Most of them are very, very talented, and I would have liked to buy some art, but the little drawing I liked was 50 euro, a bit too pricey for me. The last section is full of little shops selling mostly jewelery and scarfs. This was one of my favorites of the trip, just to relax and meander down last Ramblas.

Some of the street preformers costumes were unbelievable. These two guys were very fun, but a little intimidating.

This is the monument to Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) at the end of Las Ramblas. There are just as many monuments of Columbus here in Spain as there are in the US. Barcelona is where Fernando and Isabel met Colon after he returned from discovering America. Don't ask me why, I know its the wrong coast, but that's what they said. If anyone has info on why this is, let me know.

This is the artist section of the walk. I couldn't get a very good pic because my friend Randall (above) kept walking in front of the picture!

The flower sections. There were tons of these little shops lining the road.

More street preformers. All of them really get into it, and its fun to watch.

Gaudi

The works of Gaudi (and Las Ramblas, of course) pretty much makes Barcelona the unique city that it is. Gaudi was so talented and his ideas so creative. When he was a child, he was sick a lot, and couldn't attend primary school. Therefore, his mother took him for walks in the forest often. This is where he fell in love with nature. All of his designs are inspired by nature - forms, shapes, designs, colors found in nature. Here is the architecture by Gaudi that we visited.

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Famila is absolutely breathtaking. It towers over the entire city. I know I say this often, but this place is enormous and so, so, so intricate on the outside. Gaudi started working on this cathedral in 1883 and devoted his last 15 years of life to this project. Since his death, many different architects have worked on this church. These is recent controversy over the current architects designs. The cathedral is suppose to be finished in the year 2030. It was neat to think that this building is what people in the future will visit from our century, like we visit the Sistine Chapel or the Alhambra. History in the making.

This is the Passion facade designed mostly by the new architect. The controvery is that this architect is undermining Gaudi's original designs. If you look at the last picture, you will see the difference between Gaudi's facade, and this one.

This is the inside of the Sagrada familia, but it is still under construction. Gaudi meant for the congregation to feel like they were in a forest, which is why there are so many columns. The top of the columns branch out like trees, and the ceiling (which isn't pictured) is meant to look like a canopy of leaves. It is very peaceful in here. It will be ever more so when there aren't power tools in use. Soon, all of the windows in this picture will look like the one below.

Is this not the most beautiful stained-glass window you've ever seen? It was even more beautiful in person.

The Nativity facade designed by Gaudi. Very different from the other, right? It is amazing how detailed it is.

Parc Guell

Parc Guell is a park designed by Gaudi during the years 1900-1914. It was meant to be a high-income housing development, but that idea kind of flopped although it did turn out to be a pretty cool park. There are so many different designs in this park, and it is very big. Lots of trees, walkways, and not much grass - but thats pretty normal in all of Spain. This was one of my favorite sites in Barcelona although I have many.

This is a walkway both on the botton and the top, it spirals around until it reaches the top of a hill. The columns are suppose to look like trees - Gaudi's designs were very often inspired by nature.

The entrance to Parc Guell. In the columns at the top of the stairs there are many musicians. At the top of the columns there is a bench that is tiled like a mosaic and winds all the way around. Lots of musicians up here too.

The gingerbread houses. While I do not know for a fact that Hansel and Gretel were inspiration for these two houses, they certainly look like gingerbread houses, don't they?

These were my favorite musicians of they day. Turns out, I love street musicians and could easily give them all of my money. These guys were playing on top of the columns on the neat mosiac, tiled bench.

Another House...

This is another house designed by Gaudi. I don't know very much about it because we didn't visit it, but I wanted to add it to show the variety of his designs. You can't really tell in this picture but the house tiled to look like there are flowers on the outside all the way up the walls. It is very colorful, but the colors didn't transfer to photo very well.

La Casa Mila

La Casa Mila (or Pedrera) was built by Gaudi for a man and his wife with the last name Mila. The plan was to make the main floor a home for the couple, and the rest of the levels, apartments that they would rent out to high-income families. Gaudi built two blocks of apartment houses from 1906-1912. This building is very different now let alone in the time it was built. The apartments are very neat, with lots of character and light. I kind of wanted to live here.

The front door on the main floor. This entrance room was huge and on both sides are huge curving staircases that match the door design.

The rooftop terrace. The terrace swoops up and down and up and down and has many of these things (for lack of a better word) that stick out. The things that stick up are functional: they are either staircases, ventilation towers, or chimneys. Very interesting.

The front of this huge building. The front door (pictured above) is here, but you can't see the glass because it is too dark. Above are windows and the black is railing for the balconies. Pretty neat, huh?