The first thing you see when you walk out the metro in Barcelona.
Tilt your head upward. It's the Sagrada Familia. Started by Antoni Gaudi in 1882, his death left the the unique cathedral unfinished. Inspired by dripping candle wax, the monument with large tiers topped by cartoon-esque crosses has everything from religious icons to a Christmas tree and giant colored fruit on its façade.
You can tell which is the second half, done by an architect who ironically was originally one of the first to sign the petition suggesting work not be continued on Gaudi's masterpiece. The construction is said to be completed by 2050, but the "work in progress" aspect has grown to be part of the site's charm.
The inside looks like a giant garden of stone daisies, with stained glass adding splotches of color.
My personal favorite gift Gaudi left Barcelona is Park Guell. You approach what looks like a piece of a gingerbread house and enter into a park unlike any other.
Where else can you find a giant mosaic lizard.
Also mosaiced is the bench at the raised part of the park. It's curved shape makes it the longest bench in the world.
Up on the bench you see the famous view of the tower.
More Gaudi? Yes please. Here is the unmatched, wild exterior of a house he built for rich patrons.
Inspired by the sea, all the lines in the house are unconventionally curved. Among the many other calculated inovations to architecture of the time and clever structural tricks is the inner open column of the house. Lit from above by sunlight, its walls are tiled all blue to create the illusion of being underwater. But, in reality, the tiles get darker in hue the higher up you go. Successfully making it look like a uniform color when illuminated from the window at the top.
Whether or not Gaudi's choices were intentionally made to represent "the whirlpool of modernity" as the audio guide says, it is definitely very cool.
Bet you have never seen a chimney like this.
Barcelona is famous for two Gs. Gaudi and Going out. The nightlife is infamous. Among the many themed bars is Dow Jones. Imitating the stock market, TV screens show the price of each drink as it rises and falls based on the number of buyers. Every so often the market crashes! Red lights flash, sirens sound, and everyone rushes the bar as all the drinks drop to their lowest price.
There are also shot bars with hundreds of different "chupitos" for 1 euro, as well as a bar where each table competes to finish their tap first. The other bar we went to though was one of Sky Vodka's ice bars. It was smaller than I thought but still cool. It had an ice Sagrada Familia, benches with fur, and was showing Ice Age on the TV screens.
Don't let Allie fool you. They give you jackets and gloves but the ice cups still make your hands freezing!
Marked by the curvey lines of Gaudi and the legendary party scene, Barcelona is rightfully Spain's hottest tourist spot. But at the end of our trip I was glad to come back to Madrid where they speak Spanish I understand, no more of this Catalan business.
