Bienvenidos a Espana!

On Saturday, we left this…

Rainy Stuttgart

…and walked into this!!

Beautiful, sunny Barcelona!

Welcome to Barcelona, city of famous architectural-artist Gaudí, and much more!  The city is so unique; part of it was built/designed by Cerdá in the 19th century with the city blocks shaped orthogonally.

Orthogonal Blocks

Along with being a city of architectural genius, Barcelona held the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, holds a great history of Roman culture, and borders The Mediterranean Sea.  Where to start?! (Can you tell that I love this city??)

Before leaving for Barcelona, I was eager to brush up on my Spanish and see how far it got me on our trip.  However, I soon learned that the people of Barcelona do not speak Spanish as I know it.  The official language of Barcelona is Catalan, an offshoot of Latin.  Though the language was completely different, Spanish can be understood in Barcelona pretty well, and of course, most people at tourist destinations speak a little English.

After taking a cab from the airport, we arrived at our beautiful hotel, Havana.  We had 2 separate rooms, but they were connected in the same little private corridor.  It was like we had our own private suite.  🙂

Hotel Havana

Lauren in front of Hotel Havana

Hotel Havana at Night

For the rest of the post, I’m not going to write a detailed hour-by-hour account, but post by topic instead.  There is SO much to see that you’ll have to look at the rest of the pictures on Russ’s site.

http://rlabarca.smugmug.com/Travel/Barcelona-Sep-2010

Gaudí’s Architecture

Barcelona is not titled “The City of Gaudí” without purpose.  The city reveals at least 10 Gaudí works, the main attractions of Barcelona.  After reading more about Gaudí, I’d like to go back just to see more of his work and to go inside all of the buildings.  His muse was nature, and he mimicked it in his buildings with a little imagination, of course.  His pieces stand out as colorful, Modernist, and illuminating.

Casa Batllo--the colors on this place were amazing

The facade produces a duality between organic and artificial. The appearance of bones and plants vs. masks and mythical forms.

La Pedrera--the masterpiece of this is on the roof, which unfortunately we didn't get to see this time around.

The last and biggest piece we were able to see is the most famous in Barcelona, and is yet to be finished! In fact, it wisn’t scheduled to be completed until 2025. This is Gaudí’s most massive undertaking, La Sagrada Familia. This church is cathedral-like in many ways, and yet is unquestionably in its own category. It is so large, it occupies an entire block of the city. This massive undertaking began in the 19th century with Gaudí himself devoting 40 years to the cathedral.

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia

Directly below La Sagrada

Perspective--Joe and Kate walk up the ramp

Note the difference between the new and old parts.

The outside of La Sagrada is amazing; intricate details and scenes of religious stories adorn the walls.  The inside, however, is like nothing I’ve seen before.   It’s a huge space, but Gaudí has filled it with such light!  His detailed plans allow colors to fall throughout the entire cathedral, accenting the white space.  It’s amazing!  and still unfinished.  There’s no way the pictures can communicate what this was like, but they get pretty close with our 2 photographers!

Inside of La Sagrada Familia

The Ceiling

La Sagrada

Vivid Stained Glass

We waited in line to get to go to the top of the cathedral and look down over the city.  It was a long wait, but totally worth it (even though there wasn’t much room at top).  It was neat to see the spires still in construction and then to walk down the spiral staircase and stand out on some small balconies.  Joe even found us waiting for him at the bottom!

Looking Out Into Barcelona

Sagrada

At the Top!

Looking up The Spire from the Staircase

Aaaand looking down!

Where's Waldo Again?

Overall, La Sagrada was fascinating.  We even got to eat dinner the first night at a nice little Mediterranean restaurant near Sagrada, so it loomed over us as we ate.

Joe, Kate, and Lauren dining in front of La Sagrada Familia

Whew!  There’s so much more to say about Barcelona.  Look for more soon.  I’m tired!