mainly rain and Gaudi

Anyway, we took the metro, and found the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's famous church which is still being built. It is quite as amazing as it's reputation, and pictures probably work best;

The doors have all sorts of hidden details, secret messages, that would probably appeal to Da Vinci code fans;

And the tortoise just reminded me of Terry Pratchett...

If you go, it's well worth going in the museum bit, which does a great job of explaining Gaudi's influences, and the way he designed his buildings upside down, with weights and chains.

We had some lunch nearby, in a sort of Spanish/Italian cafe (soup with short pasta and a poached egg, eggcellent!), and then we went to the Casa Battlo, another Gaudi building, to avoid the rain.

It didn't work, really, but at least it had stopped by the time we got to the roof, which is the most distinctive bit of the building. The chimneys and other structures up there are quite unique.

It's also worth visiting Casa Amatller if you are there, as it's right next door, and an equally wonderful building by a different architect. It reminds me inside of John Rylands Library in Manchester. I think both are inspired by libraries in Oxford.

written by  martin_b on March 28, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Barcelona
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