Barthhelona Barthhelona Barthhelona!!!

Barcelona was to me the most interesting place we've visited so far. From an architectural standpoint there were so many more things to see there compared to Florence and Vicenza. I've always been a fan of Gaudi's work, so I was really excited to see all of his projects there. I always wondered if they would be as impressive in real life as they appear to be in books and in photographs. I was definitely not let down. after our tour, I started the day by heading to park Guell with some other people. I ended up wandering around and getting lost for about an hour and a half here - which was Bobby's fault but it was no problem at all considering how beautiful the views were.

What makes park Guell interesting is how Gaudi uses the slope of the mountain side to form arcades that are entirely open on one side and partially open or closed on the other. The arcades also curved in plan, and rise as well to follow the topography. This allows light in from practically all directions. In the photo below light is penetrating the arcade through 2 columns that are ahead of me right before the arcade makes a bend to the right.

I tried to sketch this in section, making assumptions as to how the structure actually works. They're all different, but the basic idea is this....

The view from the top of the mountain (almost the top of the mountain) was amazing. You could see almost the entire city from up there. I snapped this beauty on the way back down trying to find everyone.

So after I realized I was never going to find anyone ever again I decided to hike back down and take the metro to Sagrada Familia. It was about 3:30 and I knew I wanted to hit it while the sun was still up. This place was INCREDIBLE. I have definitely never been to a more beautiful building in my life. It is a true work of art, a masterpiece to say the least. It is so much more impressive in real life than it is in any of the photographs I've ever seen of it. The stained glass windows let light flood in in all the colors of the rainbow, and the light reflects on all of the marble surfaces in the church. I spent about an hour and 30 minutes in there, even splurged and got a ticket to visit the tower as well for an additional 6 euros. I know everyone's going to post photos of it so here's a few of the inside of the church focusing on the light coming in. Again, these iPhone photos seriously do not do it justice...
 

It looks like one of those laser lights at da club, but its really the light coming through the green and blue stained glass behind me.

These reflections were insane. The roof slopes toward the hall away from the windows, leaving these blank areas that look completely normal during most of the day. But at the right time the sun comes through the glass and illuminates these spots with a bright flower shape from the rose windows.

Mike being pale

Underneath the church had a museum chronicling its construction and how Gaudi put it all together. Its been under construction since 1882 and won't be completed until 2026. After seeing it up close its easy to understand why. The museum was very interesting. It also had a lab where people were working on models and making things using 3D printers and all sorts of other machines. The most interesting model was the catenary curve experiments where Gaudi used little weights attached to strings to figure out the structure of the building.

I'm glad I went there when I did but at the same time everything I went to after that paled in comparison.





The next day we toured the more modern part of Barcelona - an industrial area turned mixed use that had a lot of out-there architecture. Personally, I thought it was kinda tacky how there were so many buildings clamoring for attention all within a few sqaure miles of eachother - in some cases even across the street. It made for a really weak urban fabric - one where context was basically ignored by each incoming project. The strangest of all these buildings was the green monster wrapped in bubble wrap. This thing was strange. I appreciate the exposed structure, and how all the elements within it are unique, but the building as a whole - from the four different facades to the hideous green color to the bubblewrap-esque attachment on the front side made for a strange building. Oh and the lobby! The lobby was basically a giant room with a desk at the far end and a bright green painted concrete floor. It reminded me of those Jon Stewert skits where Obama is approaching that podium and has to walk down that mile long red carpet first. You know what I'm talking about. My favorite part had to be the wall where the green paint meets the black in this awesome fade job.

exhibit 1: Dung making her way to very distant the reception desk.

exhibit 2: awesome fade job.

One of the neatest buildings was the one connected to this large public space near the Tore Agbar. It reminded me of Louis Kahn - very simple structure and shape made up of heavy concrete planes.

The other thing that really stood out from that day was this giant solar panel structure. The scale of it was impressive. It was gigantic! It was really neat that you could stand underneath it and walk around it too.

I used up my third and final day to visit the places we had blazed through on the tour from the first two days. Sam, Mike, and I went to this sub shop called Bo de Be's. It was amazing. really amazing. Then we ventured around a bit and went to the market. This place fascinated me. I always thought you couldn't beat Publix but then I saw this!.

fruit smoothies for days 

 peppers. so. many. peppers. I bought some hot sauce from this joint. Pretttttty good.

 Sea urchins anyone?

 Look at all da curry (and other spices)!

 some fruit...and more smoothies

Lamb Brains for only 2.50. not bad

 beans? and such

Soooo muuuch frrruuuuit.

and candy!

and dried up cow legs i believe. mmmm

After I bought my hot sauce and Mike got his candy fix at the market we visited the Casa Batlio. It was nearly 20 euros which was a little steep. It was really cool though. All of the rooms were different and the place looked like something out of Dr Suess brought to life. The curves were endless and the place had a bunch of beautiful mosaics. Of course, the rooftops were very interesting as well.

Colorful rooftop mosaics

Tried to sketch this space. I didn't realize how complicated this space actually is until I sketched it. If you look closely, it's not as simple as it seems. None of the ribs actually line up, and the gaps between them sometimes open up to form seating areas or entries to other rooms.

Who from Cohens D7 remembers the Shlitz!? it was in the Casa Batlio. Makes me wonder how much of the place was authentic...or if the shlitz is a fraud! I'm feeling too lazy to research it plus I forgot the artists name so I guess we'll never know...

THE SHLITZ!

 My favorite part about Barcelona was just walking through the streets. They were really neat. A lot of them were really narrow and everyone had their laundry handing from their balconies. And a lot of Catalonia flags as well. The streets were filled with interesting things to look at. And many interesting people too. The kind people of Barcelona even offered Mike and us some delectable green herbs. (we declined). And we saw a guy balancing a soccer ball on his head. 

Narrow Streets (the Catalon flag - or a variation of it? - hanging on the lower right balcony)

We had a little bit of time left to visit the maritime museum. It was pretty neat but unfortunately most of the exhibit was missing due to renovations to the museum. The building was much larger than I expected. It still has the original layout, and all the drydock lanes are still in tact (although they're now filled with concrete). The only original part of the ship building complex left is the scales that were uncovered during a renovation in the sixties. Apparently the building was used as an armory in WWII.

This is the interior of the Maritime Museum. On either side of this platform would have been the actual dry dock bays, filled with water

Rear of the Spanish Galleon

Original scales from the old ship yard

What a typical Spanish Galleon would have looked like with sails and ores in place. The ship was wind powered and assisted by slaves for increased mobility while in battle.

The 2 euro entrance fee included a tour of this original Spanish Schooner.

On deck - Spanish Schooner