We woke up a bit before 8 am on our day #2 and had a continental breakfast with small pastries and yogurt. A most needed change from the Lido buffet of the cruise.
By 10 am, we were walking down Passeig de Gracia, the most luxurious avenue of the city, towards the Apple Store where our tour about Modernism and Gaudi was going to start.
Our guide Patrick from Free Walking Tour was fantastic in explaining the birth of the modernism movement and the life of Antoni Gaudi from an introvert kid born in 1852 to the genious architect.
He started with a very important legend for Catalans: San Jordi is believed to have killed a dragon living in Montblanc; after all animals and virgin girls had been given to him as offerings in exchange for peace, time came to offer the King’s own princess; San Jordi proposed to defeat the dragon instead and won his flight. Jordi is now the most popular first name in the Catalonia.
And the dragon became an iconic animal featured in art and incorporated as sculptures and ornaments in many buildings and mansions in the region.
Modernism emerged around the turn of the 20th century and intensified for socio-ideological reasons in the context of spectacular urban and industrial development. Artists and architects put nature and earth at the center of their projects. It was also associated with the cultural revendication of a Catalan identity.
Passeig de Gracia was originally no more than a rural lane surrounded by gardens joining Barcelona and a separate town called Gracia; a new avenue was designed and widened around 1827 to become the favorite place for aristocrats to display their horse drawn carriages through the 19th century. While houses along the avenue had been built according to a classical model with straight facades and balconies at each floor, families who made fortunes during the industrial expansion started to buy houses in that avenue and commissioned architects to reflect their wealth and history. These architects were part of the Modernism movement and built new facades and new interiors showing never seen before lines and ornaments and always with references to Jordi and the dragon.
We walked along Passeig de Gracia and stopped by at some of Gaudi’s most important architecture:
Casa Batllo is the most original and dreamlike house of Gaudi; its facade is decorated with ceramic and glass and its roof is an allegory of Jordi killing the dragon.
Casa Amatller was not redesigned by Gaudi but by catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch for the chocolatier Antoni Amatler. The facade is reminiscent of the medieval architecture with Gothic inspiration. Sculptures evoke arts, almond tree branches and of course the dragon.
Casa Mila also known as La Pedrera (the quarry) is the last civil work designed by Gaudi; it was inspired by the cliffs near Barcelona and the building does not have a single straight line. The balconies made in iron represent the algaes from the sea splashing on the wavy facade. Gaudi initiated and won a lawsuit against the owner for unpaid fees. It is considered an iconic work of architecture due to its constructional innovations and decorative solutions breaking from the then current styles.
See our photos of our Gaudi & Modernism tour here:
We then took the metro to the Sagrada Familia to end our tour with Gaudi’s master piece (read the separate post).
We went back to our B&B to relax and take a shower. I forgot to mention that a power outage occurred during our breakfast and we were locked out of our room until the owner broke in as all key locks were electronically managed (with no battery back up). Luckily we did not have to take a flight that morning but there was no hot water.
We followed a recommendation for another authentic tapas restaurant called Maitea and checked that it opened at 8 pm only. When we went there at that time, it was empty and the tapas window was empty so we decided to walk around and find something else. But it was a Monday night and lots of restaurants were closed or full. After a while, we walked by that same restaurant which had an adjacent dining room with half the tables occupied. We sat down and ordered the now traditional patatas bravas, tomato bread and croquettes. We thought that they forgot to bring a last tapas of fish and shrimps casserole but it came just when we were ready to go! At that time, we were already full so we picked at it but did not really enjoy it.
After a good night sleep and our breakfast, we decided to go to the Park Guell, another contribution of Gaudi to Barcelone. We took the metro from Diagonal to Vallcarca and walked about 20 min to reach the entrance of the park. A few escalators helped us as the park was located up on a hill.
We entered the park just before noon within the 30 min timeframe of our tickets (29 € for 2); we enjoyed the view over Barcelona from the esplanade and admired the mosaic-covered houses designed by Gaudi; it was very crowded so we did not queue to visit the houses and rather walked around the park.
The park was commissioned by Eusebi Guell to be a housing project and started in 1900. However It was abandoned after only two houses and the Hypostyle were built and it became a private garden. In 1926, it opened to the public as a municipal park. Gaudi’s fascination with nature is evident there with undulating lines mimicking natural formations such as trees, shells and rocks. The Hypostyle was originally designed as a marketplace for the residents of the estate and inspired from Roman temples with its 86 columns. Rainwater is collected in an underground tank and the overflow goes out of the mouth of…a dragon of course. He lived in one of the house until his death.
See our photos at Park Guell here:
It was raining when we left and we took the metro to the station of Licen and went for lunch at the Mercat de la Boqueria.
We did not visit one of the above mentioned houses on Passeig de Gracia as it was crowded unless you wanted to pay the premium early ticket (45€ instead of 24€) to be the first in the morning to get in and be able to take photos without people. I think we got an amazing dive into Gaudi’s world with our amazing guide Patrick and did not need more.
Barcelona certainly gained worldwide fame and reputation thanks to Gaudi who was one the most important architect in history; he stood out for the incorporation of structural solutions inspired by nature as well as for including a deep religious symbolism.
Time to smell the roses...Sur les Chemins du Monde... 