Barcelona, A Modernista Extravaganza

Lucky people that we are, we were in Barcelona just a little over a year ago and had visited a number of the city’s primary sights—the biggies like Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and the Picasso Museum and walking La Rambla. We visited both La Boqueria and Santa Catarina markets and the other two big churches, the Cathedral of Barcelona and the Church of Santa Maria del Mar.

For this visit, even though rather brief at only 2 days, we thought we might see a couple more Gaudi sights, maybe revisit a few favorite places.

We chose a hotel right across the square from the Barcelona Cathedral. What a great location. Easy walking distance to anything in the Barri Gotic (Old City) and a beautiful sight, complete with bells on the quarter hour.

Morning view from our room

On Sunday, we walked around the Block of Discord, a block in the Eixample on the lovely Passeig de Gracia that contains three distinct Modernista residences, one by Gaudi which we toured later in the day. There are a number of interesting buildings in this area, but these three are the stars.

Casa Amattler by Josep Puig i Cadafalch

Casa Lleo Morera by Lluis Domenech i Montaner

Our first new Gaudi sight was La Pedrera, an apartment building a few blocks north of the Block of Discord. Rick Steves calls La Pedrera a “quintessential Modernista building,” so it was probably a good place for us to start. Nothing cookie cutter about this place. It was an interesting visit, one shared with hundreds of other people, in spite of the fact we had timed tickets, meaning they control how many people can be in the building at one time. Seeing one of the apartments allowed us to see how these spaces worked and how Gaudi brought in light from every direction.

(1) Exterior view, (2) Vaulted attic space for ventilation, laundry, and storage, and (3) Chimneys on the roof

Next up was Casa Batllo, the Gaudi-designed residence in the Block of Discord. Even more crowded, but even more striking.

(1) Exterior, (2) Pretty window, (3) Stunning blue and white tiled atrium, (4) Interesting rooftop

On Monday, we rounded out our Modernista-themed visit by taking a tour through the Palau de la Musica Catalana. This Modernista belle of the ball by Lluis Domenech i Montaner is a real stunner. I can’t get the stained glass ceiling out of my mind. Quite beautiful. The tour included (in addition to lots and lots of stairs!) a demonstration of the acoustics via a Beethoven piece on the organ. Wow! This space holds 500 concerts and events per year. Think about that. That’s an average of well more than one per day, and they have to print the calendar of events in 2-month increments. It is one very pretty and very busy place.

After our tour, we walked through the streets of the El Born district, which is where we stayed last year. We spent a little time revisiting the Santa Catarina market. It seemed curiously quiet on this Monday afternoon, but that made it all the easier to wander through. How I wish I had this wonderful market in my neighborhood!

(1) Exterior, (2) All things ham in this part of the world, (3) Produce looking appealing too

As we trekked from place to place, we got to see lots of interesting buildings and little placas. This is really a charming city with lots to offer. Our 2 days zipped by in no time, and I am sure we have yet to scratch the surface.

Each afternoon we returned to the big area in front of the Cathedral. It is a great meeting place of tourists and locals alike. There was a little of everything here: an antiques market, pedicabs, tour groups, people making balloon animals, a really good guitarist, break dancers, and cafes filled with people watching the whole show.

I saw a sign on a shop in the El Born called “Barcelonitis,” which sounds like something one can catch. If so, we may have a mild case of Barcelonitis.