Montjuic Fountains

No sooner have I said…

“No more Barcelona photos”

Than I realise that I’d forgotten about this fabulous evening entertainment – music, lights and fountains. The boys went right to the front and got soaked – they were very happy.

Barcelona – More Buildings

Fundación Antoni Tapies.

Continuing our casual architectural tour of Barcelona.  First this crazy building, which houses the foundation set-up by Antoni Tapies as a home for his own artwork.

Just around the corner from there…

Casa Batllo, another Gaudi designed building. With a massive queue outside.

Right next door to Casa Batllo…

Casa Amatller. Apparently this block (the block of discord) is renowned for its modernist buildings.

I was very struck by this one. It even had its own George and Dragon.

And you could pay to take a tour (should you so wish) without the huge queues (or price I suspect) next door at Casa Batllo.

We contented ourselves with a sneaky look in the entrance hall.

The third famous building in the block (though I didn’t know it at the time) is Casa Lleo Morera…

A little bit of lazy internet research suggests that the interior is stunning, although I’m not sure that it’s open to the public. I would have particularly liked to get up onto the roof to have a look at this….

…folly?

Tempietto apparently, at least according to wikipedia.

We used water fountains a great deal whilst we were in Barcelona, none more elaborate than this one.

Our wander had brought us to Placa de Catalunya which has become quite familiar. This was handy because we wanted to get some tickets from the Tourist Information offices below the square.

Then we’re off again to find one final Gaudi property…

Casa Calvet.

A few blocks away from there…

…the Palau de la Musica Catalana.

The older part of the building looked amazing, but in the narrow streets quite difficult to get a clear view for a photo.

And that, finally, is the last of my Barcelona photos, though there are an awful lot more on my flickr account and one more post from our trip to Spain to come.

Barcelona – La Pedrera

Another very striking building, and this time definitely designed by Gaudi and not just wrongly attributed to him by yours truly.

You can look around inside, but it’s pretty pricey so we decided to enjoy it from across the street.

I think that the rather splendid street lights near La Pedrera were also designed by Gaudi. Perhaps. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.

Barcelona – all the Fun of the Fair

Barcelona – Casa Comalat

We were using a tourist’s street map to navigate our way between Gaudi buildings, but inevitably perhaps, we stumbled across other places of interest en route. On the tree lined Avinguda Diagonal it was difficult to get a clear view of this tall building.

But these very rounded windows and balconies seemed to me reminiscent of Gaudi’s designs. Sadly I didn’t realise that the building has another, very colourful, facade on an adjacent street.

Or that the interior is richly decorated in a very distinctive style. (Guided tour available here if you are interested).

I was particularly taken by the door…

Is this Art Nouveau?

Barcelona – Casa de les Punxes

After a day at the beach, or possibly a day at the wonderfully odd sea-water swimming pool at Zona de banys del Forum, we had another ‘Gaudi’ day – wandering around the city using our tourist map to find some Gaudi designed buildings.

It’s possible to look inside many of them but it always costs something, and usually quite a bit, so we contented ourselves with window-shopping.

I’m no expert on architecture (or anything else for that matter), but I do know that I like what Gaudi did.

In our wandering, we came across other buildings, designed by other, less celebrated, architects, which I also appreciated.

So what will follow is a series of posts, mainly photos, from our ramble around Barcelona.

Barcelona -Sagrada Familia

You can’t really visit Barcelona without taking a look at the Sagrada Familia.

It’s another place which TBH and I have visited together before, on our previous flying visit to Barcelona. We certainly didn’t book in advance then, and I don’t think we had to pay either, but these days both are necessary and it’s quite expensive. We’d saved a little by booking an early evening slot for our visit.

Anyway, it was well worth it – it’s an amazing building. I’m sure my photos don’t come close to doing it justice.

It’s also a work in progress. I would love to come back when it’s finished (current projection is 2026).

Serial masochists (i.e. regular readers) will know that I like visiting churches and cathedrals, and that when I’m there I’m particularly fond of stained glass windows.

The multi-coloured windows of the Sagrada Familia, and the amazing way they lit the space, were the highlight for me.

I’m not sure if you can get a sense of it from these pictures but it was stunning.

A magic square! I haven’t made good on my resolve to use it in a lesson yet. I wonder what the significance of the total 33 is – unless it’s the obvious one? I presume that the figures here are Jesus and Judas.

If you are making a visit, it’s worth factoring in some time to take a look at the small museum within the Basilica which holds many of the scale models, some of them pretty big,  which Gaudi used when he was working on his designs for the building.