BARCELONA, SPAIN – 8 October 2026
Ally (Christine’s travel agent) had booked us into a tour with a guide for the first day in Barcelona (in the Catalan province). Our guide Carmen was excellent. I had no idea where we were going. Our first stop was to look at a couple of buildings built in the early 1900s.
These two buildings are apparently the mostly viewed by tourists in the whole of the city, and I have to say there were at least 200 tourists on the sidewalk across from the buildings. The two buildings were designed in the late 19th Century (or maybe at the turn of the Century) by two different architects, the one on the right (Casa Batilo) by Antoni Gaudi and Gaudi would be the focus of everything we saw on this day.
For the early 1900s he was definitely “out there”, the top of the turret has a cross on it, Gaudi’s acknowledgement of his religion.
Commissioned by Josep Batlló i Casanovas, Gaudi was to renovate an existing building erected in 1875. It took from 1904 to 1906 to finish, with Gaudi focusing on the façade, the main floor, the patio and the roof, and he built a fifth floor for the staff. The façade is of Montjuïc sandstone (rock from the Montjuïc hill in Barcelona quarried since Roman times) cut to create warped ruled surfaces; the columns are bone-shaped with vegetable decoration. The old building’s balconies have iron railings in the shape of masks. The façade culminates in the roof covered with glazed ceramic tiles in the form of scales (in shades of yellow, green and blue), which resemble a dragon’s back.
The next Gaudi building is Casa Mila, no straight lines and the balcony’s decorated with cast iron railings that to me looked like lava. Again, for the 1900s really “out there”.
Commissioned by Pere Milà i Camps, this project took from 1906 – 1912 to complete. It has five floors with chimneys, covered in ceramics and with shapes that suggest mediaeval helmets.
So, who was Gaudi? I’d never heard of him before … Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (commonly referred to as Antoni Gaudi) lived from 1852 – 1926. Sadly, he died from being struck by a tram – supposedly as he was on his way to church – he was extremely religious. He was actually getting out of the way of a tram coming his way and accidentally stepped in front of another tram. Those at the site of the accident thought he was a pauper because of the way he dressed, and they didn’t race him to the hospital or even give him top of the line care when he got there. It was a day or so later that he was found at the hospital and it was to late to save him.
He was a Spanish architect and designer, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí’s works have a sui generis style (“of its own kind” or “in a class by itself”, therefore “unique”.), and I have to say he was definitely “out there” for his time.
Our next stop was the Park Güell. Around the turn of the Century, an industrialist and patron of the arts, Eusebi Güell bought a large swath of land with the idea of designing and building a park that would accommodate 60 houses for the upper class in Barcelona. Construction took place between 1900 and 1914 but only 3 houses were ever built, probably because back then it took too long to get from the park to the city. We were told by Carmen that Gaudi was responsible for most of the designs in the park itself, he had collaborators to assist with the buildings and design but it was obvious to me that Gaudi was the main designer.
This is a walkway/”road” for those who visited the park in the early 1900s (probably on horseback or in a carriage), underneath the road, visitors could shelter from the rain.
A really nice twisted metal fence, he did a lot of work with blackened metal.
Under the carriage-way.
Along the carriage-way there are spots to sit and just enjoy the park. Spaniards must have been around my height back then as the seats were just made for me.
The infrastructure under the carriage-way.
It was made to look like an aqueduct.
Another section.
It was interesting the way he had rocks poking out of the plant holders.
There was a woman (from Belaruise I’ve been told) down below the carriageway who was playing this amazing musical instrament.
More of the carriageway.
Nicely appointed paths off the carriageway.
Another spot for visitors to sit out of the weather (he should have set up some seats).
This was the second house built, apparently Gaudi was persuaded to purchase it (as no-one else was buying it). He lived in it for roughly 19 years and I think he donated it to the Park Trust after his death.
The ceiling underneath the carriageway. You sort of think that a rock is going to fall down, given the way they are arranged.
It’s known that he was very religious and these boulders apparently depict rosary beads.
It’s obvious up close that Gaudi didn’t design this building, it’s too conventional.
An interesting retaining wall.
There is a very large flat area (that was set up to collect water and fill water reservoirs that are under the flat area which was designed to be a place where all the intended house owners (all 60 of them) and their families could socialise. Anyway, all around the edge of this large round area are seats (all joined together), when you sit on them, they are so comfortable, their design is so good that you just melt into the seat.
They are decorated with mosaic style patters created from broken crockery, plates etc.
The design is really intriguing, just loved it. See the white plates, they are tea cup plates.
And he created a cave along with stalectites.
Another interesting mosaic.
A metal fence with a palm frond design.
At the official entrance, there are two buildings, one planned to be the “concierge” house for the residents, and the other to be an “office”. This one has a “mushroom” on the top of it, and the white pieces are actually upside down teacups. The two buildings look like something out of a fairy tale.
Another interesting wall with the mosaic features.
A small water feature, and even below the waterfall where you can barely see it is another mosaic feature. His (and his collaborators) had such a eye for detail.
The “office” building, note the cross at the top (another religious feature).
The sculptures around the park were fantastical, I really enjoyed our visit, except for the tourists. I was very selective with what I photographed – hope you realised that there weren’t any photos. But this gives you a false sense of what the park is now like. Honestly, there had to be 2 thousand visitors there. There were at least 5 big-arse buses that I saw, and those were just the ones picking people up. I’d heard that those living in Barcelona are getting sick of the thousands of tourists and I can definitely sympathize with them!
Our next stop was the Sagrada Família basilica and if I thought there were tourists at the park, the basilica was next level.
There is a small park behind this level with a pond and easily twice the number of people down there waiting to get in. Thankfully there are guards restricting the number of people entering at any given time.
So, what’s the big deal with this church? Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família also known as Sagrada Familia. In its current iteration it is the brainchild of Gaudi and it’s the tallest church in the world. In 1882, construction began under the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. But he resigned in 1883 and Gaudí took over as chief architect, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms (should have stuck to one or the other). Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the Basilica’s crypt. At the time of his death less than a quarter of the project was complete. In July 1936, anarchists set fire to the crypt storing his plans and broke their way into Gaudi’s workshop, partially destroying Gaudí’s original plans. It’s said that those who continued the construction remained true to his designs, but I’m not sure of that.
The church from the distance, along with the crane that is being used to finish up the back of the church. From a distance is truly impressive, it’s when I got up close to it and saw so many different “styles” that it started to do my head in! The only part that Gaudi did was the front middle part (before he died).
Inside, the pillars and the artwork on the ceiling were meant to give you the idea that you were in a forest of trees.
The inside, lots of different “aspects” to see here.
The lead-light windows, when the sun shines through them are pretty specky.
What the ceiling looked like with the sun shining through the stained glass windows, very impressive.
Interestingly, the “stained glass” windows, were glass that has had been painted. That is not the stained glass that we were used to, ie, coloured glass joined together with metal. So this stained glass instead of being one shade of, say, green, was green with different variations of the colour to give the glass more depth – a bit too modern for me LOL and what happens when the paint they have used fades from the sun?
Another view of the ceiling and looking down the length of the basilica.
And here we have the bloody tourists. So many of them.
There are 2 sets of doors that I noted. One set is a “nod” to nature that it was assumed Gaudi would have wanted. These leaves are all brass with flowers interspersed in the doors (which are about 5m high and each door about 1.5m wide).
The other set of doors with some spiders down below and a lizard in the middle rh side. Also 5m high and each door about 1.5m wide – very Gaudi-ish.
The front door and the top of the doors you can see right at the bottom. Very intricate. There are biblical stories throughout the carvings.
Better view of the front doors and the carvings.
So what bothered me is that in another section of the basilica, the carvings are totally different to those above. They were quite sharp and of a different style, more modern. It was as if all those who have followed in Gaudi’s steps put their own style on what they were in charge of finishing. So throughout the basilica, there are different styles – a hodgepodge so to speak which (for me) took away from the whole thing. For instance, the inside looked far different to the outside, like different people had put their style on the finished product.
This is a “castells” a traditional Catalan custom and was built in honor of the Pope when he consecrated the Basilica. It’s supposed to showcase teamwork and trust. When I first saw this photo, I thought they were climbing up to light the candles LOL.
The other thing that I didn’t like (at the time I was there) was the proximity of the buildings to the top and bottom of the Basilica (in this shot). The park out the front was ok (without the tourists), but I didn’t see the park at the back (the back is what’s being worked on at the moment). If I’d seen the parkland I wouldn’t have been so critical. Apparently, the city doesn’t like the buildings crowding the basilica (those at the bottom), so there’s a legal suit atm to tear down that building.
I’d definitely recommend visiting all three locations, I doubt you’ll see any of Gaudi’s work all in the one place like you see in Barcelona. There is an excellent museum in the basement of the Basilica – definitely worthwhile taking the time to check it out. Carmen (our guide – who contracts to Trip Advisor) was incredible.