Travel Spain: Visiting Gaudi in Barcelona

The first time I wandered into Spain, I spent some time in San Sebastian, located in the Basque country, so I suppose I wasn't too surprised to find that the city of Barcelona had somewhat of a different feel. It was rainy there, but relatively warm considering the other places we had just visited in the month of December. Going to the hostel on the first day was an adventure in itself. We weren't the smartest packers, each trudging along with bags that weighted far too much to carry for a long distance, but we did it anyway. The hostel had a full kitchen and, more or less, felt like a little home of our own. It was a great find.

We ventured out, us two speakers of languages that would not help us here in Spain, and found that everything was quite a bit more expensive than we would have liked, considering our tiny college budgets. Rather than eating at resturants and filling our stomachs with tapas, we cooked our own meals, bought delicious (cheap) boxed sangria, and wandered along a similar path each day, seeing all that we could see without the dollars flying out of our pockets. By the end of our trip to Barcelona, we realized that much, if not all, of our sight seeing had revolved around one thing, one person, in particular: Antoni Gaudi.

"Unfinished. Of all the words you could use to describe the Sagrada Familia, brown, pointy, weird. The one that really seems to stick is unfinished. Why? Because on June 7th, 1926, the architect, Antoni Gaudi, whose beard was also brown, pointy, weird, and unfinished, was run over by a bus. And so his greatest master piece would remain forever...." - How I Met Your Mother

Unfinished. That is until the predicted completion in 2026. Only 14 more years to go!

The La Sagrada Familia is a Roman Catholic church in Barcelona Spain (in case you didn't already figure that one out), whose construction was originally started in 1882. Gaudi became involved in the project a year later in 1883, and only about 25% of the structure was actually complete before his death in 1926. While the plans for this structure are elaborate and impressive, I do believe that "weird" is the best choice of words to describe seeing this church in person. Feel free to disagree with me, but I felt as though I took an accidental detour to the magic kingdom...

I must say that our Park Güell trip was my most loved memory of Barcelona. We didn't go on the most ideal of days. The skies were gray, it was pouring rain, and our view of the city from the top of the hill was obstructed by umbrellas and fog. Resting on the hill of El Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona, Park Güell is a wonderful combination of the outdoors, interesting architecture, and color. We ascended the hill with the helpful escalator (you can take the stairs if you wish), then trudged up a puddle filled muddy path. When we reached the top we were greeted by lovely burst of mosaicful color, the sound of someone strumming a guitar in the distance, and what I assume on a clear day would be a fantastic view of all of Barcelona. Although the houses at the park's entrance look like those of gingerbread men, I loved the quirkiness of the entire place, even in the rain.

Casa Mila, they say it's Gaudi's second most famous structure after La Sagrada Familia. While in Barcelona, we walked past this building again and again everyday. A refreshing oddity amongst the typical shops lining our daily walk in the city. The locals call this building La Pedrera (The Quarry), which is a fitting name considering the massive, curvy, gray stone walls. Buy a ticket to venture inside, and you'll be whisked away to beautiful views of Barcelona in the company of the funky chimneys on the rooftop.

Overall, it felt that visiting Barcelona was not simply visiting yet another city in the world, but a stop in some sort of vast outdoor museum, dedicated to Gaudi himself. An artist, that in his distinctive modernism, created a city in which you never know just what you'll see when you turn the corner.