If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Gaudi

It’s hard to imagine a city more devoted to striking architecture. Today, we thought we’d check out the city’s preeminent architectural voice…Gaudi. We also needed to do some walking after last night’s dinner. We went to a place (Asador de Aranda) that featured roast meats. The menu was only in Catalan, but it seemed that the only portion for the table was ‘whole lamb’. This was after we were served their specialty appetizer—a plate of ADDITIONAL roast meats and sausages. Not for the faint of heart…but quite tasty all the same.

La Sagrada Familia was our first stop. We’d seen the pictures and heard stories, but were still completely unprepared for that moment when we emerged from the Metro--and there it was—smacking us in the face. The place is a construction zone—dozens of guys in hard-hats scurrying about and several HUGE cranes spinning about—but, in spite of the activity, you can’t take your eyes off of spires. Sure, at first they look a bit like giant towers of Silly Sand, but the more you look, the more you see the extraordinary detail. The Pope was here a couple of weeks ago to consecrate the place, so it’s now officially a place of worship. You can bet that people have been coming here for decades worshiping Gaudi’s vision and talent. We spent a few hours here and could easily come back for more. We’ve been to many impressive cathedrals, churches and basilicas, but Sagrada Familia defines its own category. The detail EVERYWHERE, inside and out, boggles the mind. We took one of the elevators up a spire—the one lackluster aspect of our visit (it may have had to do with John’s inability to pull his back away from the stone long enough to actually look out a window) and wouldn’t have missed it a bit had we skipped it. So…after 3 hours, Terry hit paydirt:

Since it was early afternoon and we didn’t want to look like a couple of starving tourists eating at the unthinkable hour of 12:30, we headed to Gaudi’s last residential commission, Casa Mila. It was another of those ‘aha’ moments as we left the metro onto Passeig de Gracia and there it was, staring at us. Again, we opted for the audioguide (it’s easier than carrying around a guidebook—and offers far greater insight into any visit) and headed off to view a ‘typical Barcelona flat’ from the early 20th century. Typical? Hardly. First of all, it’s on one of the most affluent streets in the city. Moreover, GAUDI DESIGNED THIS PLACE. Nothing ordinary about it. Absolutely nothing.



After a light lunch of tapas on the Passeig (okay, maybe ‘light’ is the wrong word…what with the tapas of paella, grilled duck and mushrooms on skewers and bacalla—not forgetting the ubiquitous pa amb tomequet), we hopped into a cab and headed to Gaudi’s Parque Guell for some time exploring in the sun rounding out our ‘Day with Gaudi’. Sure, it’s whimsical, especially after having visited Sagrada Familia, but Gaudi’s attention to detail and design is no less prominent. If only we had a vacant lot next door to use some of the stuff from the park.



We’ve been here two full days now and what is readily apparent is that the most common profession in this city is ‘tourist photo prop’. They’re everywhere--a man in a ‘fat suit’ dressed as an over-the-hill flamenco dancer who entices male tourists to pose with him, face pressed between huge latex breast. Star Wars characters. ‘Heads’ of decapitated people sitting on serving platters, just waiting for an unsuspecting victim to get too close.



So, now it’s siesta time again. A guy could really get used to this.