Barcelona
Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926) is, I believe, Barcelona's favorite native son. According to Wikipedia, he's part of the Modernist/Art Nouveau style. I guess the best way to appreciate his work is to consider that for his time, his work was really revolutionary and quite "out there." Another way to look at it is the fact that his designs were rather advanced for the technology they had back then (i.e., no design software, no computers).
Gaudi has other works scattered about town and you can easily spend a day or two visiting his work.
Parc Guell was initially designed as the rich crowd's pleasure park. It is situated quite a ways from the downtown area and is on top of a hill, which gives it a great vantage point from which to view the city. Nowadays, it is open to all and admission is free.
His work is really either-you-like-him-or-you-don't... What we saw here at Parc Guell was at turns whimsical, visionary,idiosyncratic, impractical, nightmarish, trippy, bizarre and elegant. We'll leave it up to you to decide.
Detail of the three-dimensional cross. Note the mosaic surface.
Roof detail. See how wavy the crenellations and the roof surfaces are. I like the crinkly appearance on the left.
Does this not look like a gingerbread house?
This vaguely reminds me of an underwater castle, something Neptune would have had. I think the wavy lines and the trickling fountain in the center brought this image to mind.
The cut-off lizard to the right is Gaudi's mascot here. You see this mosiac lizard in magnets and tchotchkes in the tourist shops downtown.
Going up the steps.
Inside the "temple" are a whole bunch of columns. There is a cool illusion that makes the outside columns look like they are standing at an angle.
Where I am standing is the roof of the temple. It is actually a large plaza with a sandy floor and plenty of mosaiced benches to sit on.
This structure is very cool, and appears to be solely made up of rocks mortared togather. IT has a very scary effect.
This is the roof part. The rock columns support planters of cacti, which adds to a primitive/paleolithic effect.
Parc Guell is massive and we were only table to take in a very small portion of it. This looks like a lovely place for a picnic or a date when the weather is nice. Despite the chilly weather, there were loads of tourists about.
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