Gaudí’s Barcelona
Our second day in Barcelona was for one thing and one thing only: Catalan Modernist architect, Antoni Gaudí. I cannot overstate the importance of this artist to the Catalan culture.
We started our self-guided architecture tour with perhaps his most famous achievement: La Sagrada Familia. The soaring, exuberant basilica is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s (famously) one hundred forty years in the making (which is longer than it took to build the Pyramids!)
Construction on La Sagrada Familia began in 1882, and isn’t expected to be completed until 2026, which is the centenary of Gaudí’s death. A site of controversy, Catholicism, architecture, and art, the basilica is probably one of the most-visited places in Spain.
The Passion Façade 
The Nativity Façade
It’s impossible to miss. As we approached on foot, the towers of the church loomed high above us. When the church is completed, it will have eighteen enormous spires piercing the air.
We entered the Cathedral from the Nativity façade. The Church is destined to have three grand facades: the Nativity, the Passion, and the Glory (yet to be finished). The Nativity façade, which faces the rising sun, is welcoming and full of life: the sculptures are decorated with scenes and images from nature.
The interior of the church is much the same: brightly-colored stained glass pull light in from the exterior and vast, strong columns support the weight of the tall spires rising up into the sky. Thirty-six columns, each one made of different materials and carved into different geometric forms, expand out at the top like tree branches. Together, they give visitors the appearance of being surrounded by trees in a rainbow-hued forest.
After admiring the organ, the crucifix, the stained glass, and the architecture, we took a lift to the top of one of the towers on the Passion façade. This literally stole my breath.
At the very top of the basilica, all of Barcelona lay before us, bright, sunny, and colorful.
Remember how I told you how ornate and vivid the Nativity façade is? The Passion façade, where we made our exit, is quite the opposite. Rather than boasting ornate carvings and sculptures of animals and trees, the exterior of the Passion side is simple and austere, made to resemble the bare bones and straining muscles of Jesus during his crucifixion. The effect is brutal and severe.
After leaving La Sagrada Familia, we headed into the city to do some more hunting for Gaudí. Our quest led us to some of the famous houses that he designed (and some of the most creative buildings I’ve ever seen).
La Pedrera 
We made our first stop outside La Pedrera (Casa Mila), with a façade of undulating stone. Gaudí famously disavowed straight lines, believing that in nature, only curved lines exist. His architecture reflects this theory.
Our next stop was Casa Batlló, whose exterior has the same skeletal, organic quality of the Passion façade of La Sagrada Familia. Casa Batlló was my favorite–look how inviting the colorful tiled mosaics are!
After a lunch of tapas and some window shopping, we headed to Parc Güell. Parc Güell is a public park system in northern Barça bursting with gardens, architecture, and Gaudí influence. Like many of his other achievements, the park is also a World Heritage Site.
The park was created in 1900, when Count Eusebi Güell purchased this hillside and hired Gaudí to create a miniature city of houses within the landscaped grounds. In his characteristic colorful, innovative way, Gaudí designed roads, walkways, steps guarded by a famous mosaic dragon, a plaza, and two gatehouses.
The Barcelona sun threatened to weaken us at Parc Güell, where the tiles, concrete, and shiny mosaics seemed to reflect and increase the heatwaves. We escaped the sun inside one of the park’s walkways, whose stonework columns twist and bend to give the appearance of tree roots, before heading up the mosaic tile stairs to the top of the park.
The views from the top are stunning—we could see all the way to the ocean.
Afterwards, we escaped the summer sun with a refreshing nap in our hotel [making sure to grab some gelato and gofres (waffles) before heading in]. Later that night, we grabbed pizza and fresh-squeezed orange juice in La Raval, and walked around the streets bordering Las Ramblas, taking pictures of street art.
As the sun set, we made our way to Montjuic, the hillside west of the city, where we watched a magic fountain show set to music.
The next day, we woke up to a still-sunny Barcelona. After a breakfast of croissants and coffee, we shimmied into our swimsuits and sank into the sand on Platja de la Barceloneta, the Venice Beach of Barcelona. We drank up as much sun and color and swimming in the cold ocean as possible before catching a flight to Dublin, Ireland. Adéu, Barça!
