I will not burden you with too many words, which is not my usual style, but I will just leave you with images of the interior of this glorious building.
I am glad I got to see this in person, if you love design and creativity this will not disappoint.
Detail of the space over a doorway.
From one side it looks muted, when you enter the room and look back the light coming through illuminates the whole beauty!
Light fitting
Tried to get a shot of the ceiling. It swirls towards the centre of the room like water going down a drain.
The finish on the columns is hand painted, made to look scaly.
The colours!!! Seriously I swoon when I remember how exquisite this place is.
A light fitting....I could see this in my home very easily.
Detail of the mosaic work....hours of artistry.
You can access the roof top terrace and see the capping tiles.
More chimney pots
These were covered in glass mosaic tiles, some neutral in colour others very bright.
The thing about this work is of course it wont fade in the harsh Spanish sun and doesnt need painting each year or so.
However I would imagine there would be some maintenance but these are nearly 100 years old!!!
There I spared you the hundreds of snaps and distilled it into the best ones.
I hope you enjoyed the beauty.
Phew, I am so glad to here in my happy place!
I am dealing with my elderly mother whose mental capacity is suspect and the old family dynamics rear their ugly head.
My sister and I do not communicate very well given a long history of insecurities and manipulation by parents in the past, I thought by the time we had reached the grand old age of 50 odd we would suddenly act in an adult manner. Throw in the interference of money and brother in laws and its becoming very toxic very fast.
And they dont even know about me or my life so they would never have seen this blog....yep close like that!!! LOL
Glad you asked about that huh? No I just had to get this off my chest and then I can concentrate on the good things, like remembering my grand tour of Barcelona.
Remember my infatuation with Gaudi? Yes there is more!
These are the chimney pots on a building he designed in the main city of Barcelona. They were privately owned apartments and the residents would have had to get used to crowds stopping to take photos. Now it hosts exhibitions and art events
These are just utilitarian chimney pots, but to an artist such as he, why go that way, why not create beauty that lasts?
These are the balcony iron works, again pure art. See how the sandstone blocks are curved and flowing?
This was completed in 1910 and is considered Art Nouveau.
We whizzed past this building as we were headed to another Gaudi site just down the road, I called the dragon house as you may work out when you see it.
Its official title is Casa Batllo.
Be prepared to have your senses assaulted, in a good way.
The facade with balconies. This house was started in 1905 as a commission for a wealthy family that was not afraid to flaunt their style and standout in a crowd. Would have loved to have met them, what brave souls to embrace such daring design.
A shot from the street looking up to the roof, this building is many stories high and when you are inside it feels like it goes up and up forever. 4 or 5 floors I think?
The sun was setting right behind the roof when we left and I took these shots, so the colour is a little hard to capture. But now you can see my dragon reference....yes, no?
They look like dragon scales to me.
A rooftop. Seriously could you imagine a whole street or town with this type of design. It would be like living in a fairy tale...sigh!
And the facade again, all that colour is mosaic work, with large pottery discs fired with colours dotted throughout.
The balconies remind me of masks, and how is the detail even underneath the balcony?
I did get to tour this building but I will spare you the overload and show you next time.
When we arrived and settled into the accommodation I looked out the window and noticed the roof of a church.
My intention in Barcelona was to just visit Gaudi sites, and I really didn't research much about anything else. I was to become entranced with the hidden delights that were on our doorstep......quite literally.
We stayed on a street called La Rambala, a wide thoroughfare with limited traffic and a wide promenade down the centre.
I recommend this area as it is central to almost everything, lots of eating places to peruse and lots of small alleys and streets that run off La Rambala, and a magnificent fresh food market that has its roots back to medieval times. The market has been modernised, it is clean and incredibly fresh.
The locals come to purchase fresh seafood which they then take to small bars/kitchens in the market where it is cooked and served back to them for lunch, along with a cheeky glass of wine.
Did I mention the food is wonderful?
Hehe.....I loved this fellows little chubby tummy. This is no reflection on eating or otherwise, we ate whatever and whenever travel is not a time to be a picky eater.
We had to try and find a particular chocolate shop after our tapas tour the previous night. I just remembered the images of cats on the walls of the courtyard near said establishment.
These are just one example of the hidden delights that are in the side streets.....sigh...... missing it already!
We found the chocolate shop and had the most exquisite hot chocolates, hard to describe the drink was almost jelly like in consistency. the chocolate flavour refreshing.....seriously refreshing. It didn't appear to have added fats and sugars like our chocolate but a pure flavour that didn't coat you mouth but almost cleansed your mouth......the best I have ever tasted.
I didn't get to photograph the shop as it was open late in the afternoon and I had no light left to get a decent image. It is tucked away in a small alley just near this cat wall....if you ever get there ask a local they will show you.
And now we hit the Gothic quarter.
This is the oldest part of the town, dating back to Roman times. Where aqueducts built by the Romans are butted up against medieval palaces.
We discovered history that is still living, these buildings are still used and revered by locals. There are shrines to saints tucked into corners
and retail outlets that date back centuries. I was too shy to ask to take photos but one shop intrigued me so much and it was the icon store, where religious icons and statues were bought and sold. Such amazing art.
The shopping in this quarter is very good. They had a section dedicated to beading, trims and necklace making, quite unexpected. Along with antiques, tapas restaurants and modern homewares. Very few tacky souvenir stores,,,they tend to stay out on La Rambala,
Looking up you see more wonders. This was a detail on a nondescript building, but the guttering was quite something.
A detail over the church entrance
My long distance lens enables me to see great details
So that is small taste of this part of Barcelona, a real unexpected delight for me to discover.
Some of the buildings along La Rambala
This place has much more to offer than I ever imagined.
Hello dear readers,
this year has been a year of changes, both small and large and constant. If there is one constant in life it is change!
One thing was that I squirrelled my long service leave money and wages and booked that trip, the one I always said I would do.
I booked a trip to Barcelona, Paris and London...epic for us.
To travel anywhere from Australia is epic as we natives know, Europe is at least 15 hours away, actually Dubai is 15 hours away then its another 5 or 7 hours to your final stop.
We made it without too many problems....except the car we booked to take us to the airport didn't turn up so it was a bit stressful ringing for a taxi to get us cross town on time. Again in Australia it takes hours to get through security checks, we are required to be at the airport at least 3 hours before the flight....we did alright even with the hiccough because I always leave plenty of time for just these types of events happening.....but not the way you want to start a long journey that has been planned for 12 months!!!!
We ( husband and daughter...son didn't want to travel so he minded the dogs) snoozed quite well and landed in Barcelona, all starry eyed and looking forward to what lay ahead.
Barcelona didn't disappoint, the people are lovely and geared to tourism. Everyone spoke English and the food was wonderful, fresh tasty and exquisite decor.
I was in Barcelona for one thing only that being the works of Gaudi.
We had three days to get around the sights, and I wish we had booked more. Gaudi and his architecture is a big draw card but there is so much more...
I have taken hundreds of photos and spent days editing and cropping and tweaking so be prepared to be bombarded.
NOooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Its alright but I will have to trickle them through, there is too much to digest and Gaudi deserves to be really observed closely and thoughtfully. The man still blows me away with his artistry, vision and singlemindedness. He never married and seriously I don't think he would have ever had time for a relationship, his work was his life and what a body of work it is.
My first glimpse of Guell Parc. A complete jewel, the sun was glistening off all the mosaic surfaces and shining brightly. This made getting the correct colour very tricky as my camera and me could not quite cope with the right exposure and I did have grumbles of "can we move on now" from my companions.
This is my beautiful daughter standing in a grotto, notice the angle of the pillars, all done in stone work. Each pillar was a work of art intended to look natural.
See the variations?
A detail of the seating around the parks open space, all unique. The gargoyles allow water to be dispelled from the seats and spilled onto planting below.
A classic shot of the passage in the grotto....almost like an ocean wave.
Hand made gates.....this guy did not like straight lines or mass produced items. Everything had an artists touch.
In this shot I managed to place the famous church (that is still to be completed).....The Sagrada Familia in the background....it is where the cranes are in the distance.
The tiled roof is of a gatehouse building at the parks entrance.
This is a fluke shot.......see the person framed in the window? Never could have actually achieved this if I had planned it!!!
Iguana at the entrance.
Yes!!!! The classic shot...done and done!!
All the roof is mosaic tiles, the detail is mind blowing, not a single straight surface. The tower at the back in blue and white has an undulating twisting construction. His workers must have all been artisans to produce such beauty.
This was constructed in 1900 folks...even today a building like this would be considered modern!
I know I bang on about this but he was so ahead of the pack, where did we lose the courage to create beauty like this?
Why are our buildings so straight, and bland? (she sobs quietly...)
I know the answer is economic but we need artistry in our lives and this Park brings money to Barcelona and joy to all who visit.
Detail of mosaic on ceiling...would love to try this at home, like in the shower perhaps?
Just as we were leaving the sun illuminated the face of the washer woman....one of the pillars in the grotto. Did I mention each one was unique?
Did not attempt these stairs!
Well I hope this didn't bore you. I downloaded 110 photos so I have been kind and edited the better ones.
Stay tuned this was only the first morning of the first day............
