Brava Barcelona! - Part II

31.10.2005

*Ties hair up into a perfect round bun and put on librarian glasses* Ahem..Class, turn to page 105 on your History of Spain textbook..

Barcelona was originally a Roman settlement founded on a hill during the reign of Emperor Augustus and before the Romans arrived, the present day Barcelona area was inhabited by the Iberians. The Iberian culture developed and flourished for about 500 years from the 5th to 2nd century B.C. The Romanization of the city took place around 218 B.C and the city was modernised and its culture enriched.
The Carolingian Empire than succeeded the Roman Empire in ruling over Barcelona and under its ruling, the city flourished and achieved its golden age as an important port city of the Mediterranean, rivaling Venice in the 11th and 12th century. The region of which Barcelona is located is known as Catalonia and the Catalans once considered themselves a country to themselves, separate from the rest of Spain and it was not until much later when Spain was united under King Juan Carlos and Queen Isobel of Spain in the late 15th century that Barcelona became part of Spain.

*pulls pin out and with a sophisticated head toss, hair came tumbling down at the same time the stern looking glasses were quickly discarded in favour of a short sleeved top and skirt and sunglasses* Right...time for the field trip now class..let's go!!

So it was indeed impossible not to be overwhelmed by the ancient and rich history of Barcelona as I breathed in the smell of coffee and fresh warm croissants on my way Le Rambla, but not before navigating through ancient and modern buildings, situated harmoniously next to one another. It was yet another glorious sunny day, which in turn made it that much easier to feel light and happy and that everything was fine with the world.

The aerial view of the main street of Barcelona, Le Rambla. This is the street where the pulse of the city is folks! Great place to be entertained while getting breakfast thanks to shops, buskers of all shapes, sizes and noises..and other tourists walking up and down this super busy street.

Prior to coming to Barcelona, I had heard so much about its very very infamous resident, the late Antoni Gaudi, architect and engineer extraordinaire who lived between the late 19th to early 20th century, the beloved son of Barcelona whose very much admired and respected work of art adorned the city's landscape. I was not particularly aware of him or his work especially since it would fall under "modernists" architecture as opposed to ancient ruins, which had so far been much of my focus through this tour. Little did I know I would soon join millions of others in becoming one of his biggest fans and you're about to see for yourself why.

So I set off on this Tour of Gaudi as I dedicated today's sightseeing programme. First up on my list was the Casa Bastillo. Prior to arriving at the Casa, I had a first glimpse of what to expect from Gaudi when I walked past one of the least popular buildings designed by him:

This building was not one of the more famous buildings of the city, hence I didn't even know the name or what it's for! But it gives you an indication of what to expect.

Casa Bastillo used to be Gaudi's family residence. A house he designed to reflect his two greatest love, nature and architecture. The result was a house that boasted architectural and interior design that incorporates the theme of nature in one form or another, both in aesthetic style and also in practical function. Take for example the rooms in the house, the corridors were all designed in the shape of a whale's rib cage, semi oval arches painted in white to resemble the insides of a whale and at the same time, not only were they aesthetically intriguing, they also served the purpose of being arches of greater support to the foundation of the house than the normal beams you often see in more conventional houses. Gaudi also cleverly employed extreme designs, colours and textures with extensive repertory of visual solutions, ingenius use of natural light and space to create an almost dreamlike quality to the building. A good illustration of this could be seen on the balcony of the building. The chimneys were painted and designed to look like something straight out of the technicolour dream with the supporting wall designed to resemble a fire breathing dragon. It was all very enchanting. Or if you're a cynic, you would probably say that Gaudi smoked really gooooood stuff when he designed his house! :-P

The outside of the building. As you can see, funky chimney and the windows are designed to look very very fishy...hmmms.. :D

The funky whacky yet super cool balcony!

By this stage, I was as excited as a child about to open her first present on Christmas day as I trotted along to the next Gaudi masterpiece, this time his work would appear in the form of sculptures, buildings and unique architecture incorporating once again both nature and modern art, all to be found at Park Guell, located about 25 minutes from the main centre. This park originally belonged to Gaudi's patron and admirer of his work, Mr Guell who wanted an English park containig Gaudi's work. The park was never fully completd due to the death of Guell but nevertheless, you would hardly notice this as you venture into the magical world of Gaudi. I almost felt like Alice in Wonderland!

The famous Iguana that greeted visitors at the entrance of this "amusement" park. Check out the cool designs..

After sampling and enjoying the "entree" served by Gaudi, I was ready for the main course..the ultimate Gaudi creation. This was Gaudi's biggest project where he dedicated 40 or more so of his life, starting from 1882, right till his death in 1926. This massive project was borne from Gaudi's grand vision which formed the cornerstones on which the current architects are still relying on to continue what Gaudi has started. It is projected that the project would be completd in 50 years time.

The Temple de la Sagrada Familia was Gaudi's greatest gift to his beloved city. Nothing I had seen so far could ever prepare me for what I was about to discover.

The design and overall plan of the Temple were based on Gaudi's studies and obsession with the use of innovative geometrical shapes of naturalist style. Eight of the twelve bell towers of the facade, dedicated to the Apostles and having a height exceeding 100 metres are already built. The four belfries awiting construction are those of the Facade of Glory. Then ther will be a 170 metre central dome in honour of Jesus Christ and finally, the Tower of the Virgin Mary measuring 125 metres will complete this enormous temple. What also makes this entire project more remarkable is that from the beginning, the building of the "Temple of Sacred Family", built under the concept of a temple of atonement, came only from private donations and alms, and it continues to be so due to the general donations from the faithful and admirers of the project.

I stood gobsmacked outside the entrance for a good 5 minutes before eventually able to shut my jaw and made my way inside the already very crowded temple. Armed with my audio guide, I began to explore first the outside of this temple before making my way inside. My jaws experienced the force of gravity a few more times as I moved in and out of the temple, following the audio guide's directions of what to see first. It became easier and easier to appreciate why Gaudi, the perfectionist took so long in first conceptualising what he wanted to build, and then actually carrying out the construction because the man truly took pride in ensuring the marriage of human technology and the geometrical symetry between what is material and natural was indeed astounding. I'll let the pictures show you what I mean!

The front of the facade and the 4 towers

Closer view of the front 4 towers

This time, the other completd four towers located at the back of the temple. You have no idea how huge these towers are!!

As you can see from the interior of the temple, the poles, beams and ceilings are designed to resemble the trees in a forest and this is an example of Gaudi's artful merging of nature and architecture.

No doubt I had taken lots of photos which I could not put them all here but I cannot wait to share them with you all. After taking my time discovering and admiring Gaudi's genius creation, I joined this long queue to climb up one of the towers. Just to give you how popular this place is. It took me 1 hour just to make it to the start of the stairs and another 2 hours of traffic jam, or rather body-to-body crawl before I actually got to the top. The view of course was amazing. Once again, will share all the photos later!

After this, it was rather hard to conjure up the energy or spirit to top this. So instead, I chose to save the rest of Barcelona for the next day. So I was happy to casually stroll back, to reflect on the impact Gaudi and his work had on me. Truly remarkable. The Temple of Sacred Family would easily rate as one of the most amazing building I have seen to date in Europe! Then again, I still have so much to see of Barcelona, I only covered like half of the main sights, if that! Oh boy...I have a feeling Barcelona will be rivalling Valencia soon as my favourite destination the way it was going! We shall see what tomorrow brings..