Antoni Gaudí - He Who Started It All

Spain is the birthplace of Antoni Gaudí and any art buff would not miss the chance to witness the works of this renowned Catalan Modernist. The master creations of Gaudí are inspired by organic shapes of nature and is a marriage of religion, nature and architecture. 

 I was extremely excited to appreciate his masterpieces right where it was born. 

The trick here is really not to rush and take your time. Better still if your companions appreciate visual art as much as you do. 

A Piece of Catalan Modernism

As a former house commissioned by Pere Milà, Casa Milà is now the headquarters of Catalunya-La Pedrera Foundation. The tour inside the casa showcases the private house's layout and highlights the Catalan culture in the 19th century. It was also the last building designed by Antoni Gaudí and was built between 1906 to 1912.

This house displays the fluid and lucid beauty of architecture, in and out.

The Mila is a construction of 2 buildings with a central courtyard that allows light to filter to the topmost level 9 and the attic.

If you are fascinated by Casa Batlló, you will be in awe with Casa Milà ( at least I did).

Tips

Casa Milà and  Casa Batlló are easily accessible to each other within walking distance. Thus possible to cover these 2 UNESCO sites within the same day. 

For La Pedrera,there is no entry time restrictions which you have to adhere to. Simply choose a date of visit.  Similar to Casa Batlló, it is always better to book online in advanced. 
Ticket price comes with a guided tour at 11am.
However, if you can't make it, skip it because you will still be issued with an audio guide.  

Why 'La Pedrera'?

Casa Milà was also known as ‘La Pedrera’ (Stone quarry), with the exterior appearance resembling that of an open quarry. Basically this building is a self-supporting facade made with stone, bricks and iron pillars. 

Main Courtyard

Let's Head Up to Roof Terrace!

Simply an amazing blast of intricate architectural-sculptures of twisted chimneys, towers and stairwells, concealed to serve their purpose.
Breathtaking and absolutely splendorous.
Perfect for your OOTDs, right?

What you can interpret is bounded by your imagination, and nothing else. 

The roof terrace looks down to the main courtyard in the casa.

Structures covered with mosaics broken up intentionally and glued on.
This style is prominent in Gaudi's later works and is reflected in Park Guell too.

Espai Gaudi

Located at the attic of the casa, this space introduces the life of Gaudi and all his work representations.

Look Down~

Hexagonal Tiles with marine-inspired motifs.

The Pedrera Apartment

The rooms had been re-represented as its original use but had been redecorated with furnitures from that period and other elements like doorknobs, handles, doors and windows etc. 

We toured around the rooms and the various setups, looked at the furnitures and broken Valencia  tiles.

Washing basin made from marble?! How classy

Touch

As mentioned, elements of the Modernism designs and elements can be found easily. An example is the  door knobs carrying the curvy wavy form for ergonomics. 

Kitchen Wonderland

Plastic Mouldings on the Doors

Here's the corridor along the different rooms. 

Look Out for Wrought-Iron Balconies

Patio made from crumbled zinc pieces.

Feel It

Light and airy inner courtyard at level 1.

Antoni Gaudi

Dear sir, finally we met!

Look Up~

Painted murals in the courtyard entrances.

As I neared the Sagrada Família, my heart skipped a beat faster and I wondered how far more do I  have to walk before meeting face to face with this beauty.

TIP 1.

Purchasing tickets to Sagrada Familia can be daunting with so many choices available.

We joined the local tour with a  guide  and topped up with a tower tour ( You have to pre-purchase online).  There are many intervals available for the guide tours but the HOT TIMING will be those in the MORNING. You can also see the availability of the various slots on the same web page. 

The specialized guide gave a wonderful insight into the history, new perspectives and introduction to the different facades of the beautiful church. It was definitely worth it to pay 2 Euro more for the guided tour. 

Though it was a large group but we all had on the mic and portable headset ( ever so useful) and were able to listen to the commentary from the guide clearly, even if you strayed off ( a short distance) from the guide.

Even if you had gone on to Spain with an overseas tour group agent, you would still be following the local specialized guides for this segment inside Sagrada Familia, asI had witnessed for myself on the ground.
So why not arrange your Barcelona leg yourself and save some cash?

From afar as we walked along the streets.

Capture the sunlight filtering the colored stained glasses... it's way pretty. 

Where Jesus is

The main altar where Jesus lies is out of bound. But believers can sit on the pews in front to pray as usual.

I am no Christian but I totally enjoy learning how Gaudi's work of science and art intertwined with his and the Catalan people's religion and faith. 

Clever use of Sunlight

Look up the towards the ceiling and there's an opening which allows natural sunlight to filter in thus 'lighting' up Jesus too. 

How enlightening indeed!

This altar area.

The cathedral is totally not a place for photo taking or OOTD as humans abound everywhere. 

 NATIVITY TOWER, EAST of Barcelona

Of the 18 towers intended for the Familia, only 8 are completed 4 on each side of Nativity and Passion respectively. Remember if you bought the tower inclusive tickets to head up to the top of either towers. 

Go up via a lift and down via the stairs. 

It was an awesome experience! Recommended! 

and while waiting for the lift to come... 

The East view of Barcelona!

While being high up, you can still see lots of works are still carrying on with construction over the 

'unfinished' towers for the basilica.

A tower is A TOWER. Narrow and steep. 

And we spotted the new side of the tower building- in- progress. 

It gets narrower as you descend. 

Gradually the basilica came into view from the ground level again.

There is so much to snap, you get quite lost on how and what exactly to snap gradually. :)
SLOW down and enjoy soaking in the sights and sounds. 

The recreation and souvenirs shop as we made our way out

Tip 2.

 Barcelona is a big friendly place for international travellers solo. However, things can be a bit tricky when trying to take photographs at the national museums/churches etc. Many of such places do not allow the uses of tripods. So the only way about it is to grab a stranger and be thick-skinned enough to ask for help!
I had my friend with me in this tour, so it was still alright.

http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/

9am to 7pm/ 6pm/8pm depending on months of the year.