GORGEOUS GAUDI – MORE OF OUR TIME IN BARCELONA

Still with time to spare before our 7pm La Sagrada Familia entry time in Barcelona we decided to see as much Gaudi architecture as we could. Past La Pedera we went, the facade sadly covered by scaffolding and advertisements, and caught a glimpse of the famous chimneys from the street. We saw Casa Batllo and couldn’t wait to get inside.

Walking along the street, you know you have reached somewhere of importance when you come across a mingling crowd of tourists. Faced with the front façade we knew we just had to see what was inside Casa Batllo and hoped it was worth the obscenely expensive entry fee, luckily it was!

Inside there are no straight lines, the walls, doors, windows and artwork are an array of curves. Gaudi also uses natural light to great effect in all his works. In Casa Batllo he has built an internal column that allows for natural light to flow into all rooms, even the ground floor, through a skylight.

Wondering through the main 1^st floor apartment then upwards towards the roof we were surrounded by other people all in awe of the rooms before us. Casa Batllo seems to have been inspired by nature with fish scale wallpaper, ocean water tiling on the front façade and inner column and the mushroom shaped fireplace. Every inch seem to have been inspired by the world around us and somehow all the different ideas work together to form a masterpiece of modern architecture that was built before it’s time and still looks contemporary. The craftsmanship of the wooden doors and the clever window vents and the metal hand rails all masterful and exquisite. The list of magnificent design goes on and on and encompasses even chairs and tables. Gaudi was ahead of his time with ergonomics as well, even down to door handles. I am not sure craftsmanship of this kind even exists today.

We walked towards La Sagrada Familia even more excited to get inside now that we had had a taste of Gaudi’s work. On the way we came across a street procession for Good Friday, another great cultural experience to come across. Arriving at La Sagrada Familia we were greeted with the longest line we have had to wait in so far this trip. It went most of the way around the block that the cathedral is built in.

We had been told that in order to get in at 7pm we should arrive to line up at 6:50pm, 10 minutes would be more than enough time to get through the doors in order to have an hour looking around before closing time at 8pm. Disgruntled we walked around the block to the back of the line prepared to ask for our money back if we did not get inside before 7:20pm.

We got talking to a lovely French Mum and her daughter who were in Barcelona for the weekend and felt exactly the same way as us, a little hard done by. Instant friends we talked for the 25 minutes it took us to get inside and ended up exchanging contact details. Armelle and Églantine invited us to come and stay with them and we can’t wait to see them again when we get back to Paris. We are so lucky to meet so many nice people on our travels!

When we finally got inside La Sagrada Familia all angst was lost because this place was well worth the wait and the expense. It is stunning, and it isn’t even finished yet! We had been saying we would never come back to Barcelona ever again but as soon as we walked in we exclaimed that we must visit again when construction is completed, possibly in the year 2025.

Natural light is at play again, emphasizing the curvy lines inside with splashes of colour cast by the modern stained glass windows. It’s hard to describe, a church that is traditional and beautiful as well as ultra modern even though it’s construction started in 1883! Again you can see the influence nature has on Gaudi’s work. The colours of the windows turn from blues and greens of the sea to blue and green of the sky and grass and on to deep ochre reds just like the Australian outback. There are a couple of windows still to complete and balconies not yet finished. I do hope Gaudi can look down upon his creation and see how beautifully his lifes vision is being painstakingly created.

In awe we walked back to Vincent parked a few streets away. We decided to stay one more night in Barcelona before driving on to Figueres the next day. Not wanting to leave Vincent alone to get broken into again we sat inside playing Yahtzee. After a couple of rolls we developed an audience of one, a man standing outside the window watching, weird! He was of Asian decent so probably wanted to join in the game. Waving him off and laughing didn’t help to move him on so we tried ignoring him, which worked after a while. Needless to say we moved to a different, busier street to sleep the night before leaving as fast as we could in the morning!

We got to Figueres mid afternoon and went straight to the Teatre-Museu Dali, a theatre that the artist Salvador Dali turned into a work of art that displays his surrealist works. We loved it, so interesting and many different art forms to see with sculptures, paintings, screen prints and drawings, even jewelry my personal favourite!

We are loving our new education on art and can’t wait to witness more spectacular pieces by the greats!

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album BARCELONA

BURGLED IN BARCELONA

Our time in Barcelona was eventful to say the least! We drove for a couple of days along the beautiful stretch from Madrid to Barcelona, with lazy starts and stops along the way. Siguenza with its churches and tulips was one and the other was Montserrat, a monastery very close to Barcelona. We parked outside the main parking area here and walked to the Monastery where you can see the basilica, crypt and township free. We then camped in the mountains near here before moving into the city.

We made it to Barcelona early afternoon and decided to head straight to stroll along La Rambla. Only problem we faced was finding a parking spot, not always easy in the big cities and proved near impossible in here. Wanting to avoid receiving a parking ticket we searched until we find a free parking spot in one of the only parking areas we could find above ground where Vincent can go, most underground parking areas aren’t high enough to fit under!

We walked along the waterfront towards La Rambla, stopping every so often to browse the numerous market stalls along the way. Near the monument to Christopher Columbus were some antique market stalls that were very interesting.

La Rambla lived up to its busy reputation and we weaved through the crowd streaming past the many human statues along the way. All I could think about was how hot they must be on such a sunny day!

Winding through the streets we found the Gothic church but after popping in to get a glimpse decided there were other things we would rather see, we have seen many churches already. So on we went to Museu Picasso where we saw an abundance of Pablo Picasso’s masterpieces from his first to those from late in his career.

From here we window shopped some more, had some delicious ice-cream, stopped by the pretty Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar then set off back to the car…and disaster! Vincent had been broken into!! A smashed window and glass all over the floor but we were most worried about what had been stolen. Luckily it seemed the rotten thieves had not had time to search through the whole van as only our two hand luggage suitcase (filled with socks, under ware, spare towels and bathers) and both our toiletries bags (goodbye make up and Clinique) had been taken.

It really could have been much worse but it’s still is so annoying, infuriating and such a hassle to replace everything. They were expensive socks too. We can’t understand how there are people in the world who think it’s ok to vandalize, break and riffle through let alone steal other people’s hard earned and accumulated stuff! They were obviously looking for money and drugs and I’m happy to say they won’t find either in our bags, only things that are useless to them but essential to us!

Saddest of all the disgusting people stole our trusty map book (my baby) in which we have been marking all the places we’ve been and where we’ve camped along the way. So sad, so inconvenient and still to be replaced. Hopefully we’ll find another map soon so we can try a remember some of our spots to mark again.

Cursing the thieves and Barcelona we were now in a mad rush to find the car glass place recommended to us by a nice couple that were walking past when we made the devastating discovery. Unfortunately they had closed by the time we got there so a night on the streets of Barcelona with a window missing ensued before seeing the Car Glass people in the morning. While Vincent was being fixed we walked to La Sagrada Familia and joined the line for entry tickets.

The line was so long we waited about an hour to buy tickets for the last entry time of the day (all that was left) at 7pm that night. Back to Vincent, good as new thank you Car Glass, then we made our way out to Park Guell, our first real taste of Gaudi architecture. The park is very interesting with winding pathways and though we didn’t pay to get into the main part of the park (also only a late entry available that day) we could see a glimpse and it looked gorgeous.

Admiring the view over the city to the ocean we stopped to watch a man cutting out silhouettes. Someone from the crowd would step forward to model as the man in the beret cut for no more than 2 minutes producing a perfect likeness as the finished product. He never stops as there is always someone willing to pay, they’ve watched him succeed with the people before. We took our turns and it really was worth it, we can’t wait to frame our silhouettes from Spain.

More to come about all the Gaudi architecture we saw!

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album BARCELONA