This blog post is part of a series. There are Barcelona in Black and White, Barcelona in Black and White, Again, Barcelona in Stunning Colour and Barcelona in Colour II. This is the third part.
Some of you may recall seeing this place, around the corner from the hotel:
That’s Casa Batlló Gaudi, which in English means ‘Batlló’s Gaudi House’ because Mr Batlló commissioned him to make a nice house and this… Walt Disney mushroom-dream is what he got. We didn’t go in but apparently you can.
The trouble is, it’s bloody hard to get a photograph. There’s trees and traffic in the way. The local council should think about the perhaps hundreds of people who want to take a photo of it each day (probably with their own mug in the way) and they put a fucking tree in front of it. We’ll just have to try someplace else.
Around the corner is Casa Milà. That’s ‘Milà’s House’, to you and me. Gaudi designed this one too and it too is impossible to photograph without a drone. You can go in but it’s going to cost you thirty Euros.
The Gaudi stuff is what most come to see but the city has an impressive stock of charming architecture. Here’s an example:
There was a whole row of gorgeous old apartments that have been converted into luxury shops.
I probably should have included this one in my award-winning Barcelona in Black and White series.
We didn’t stick around the Gaudi-houses because we had a booking for Park Güell! That’s the second-hottest Gaudi-place in town. You need to book well in advance as they limit number inside to, oh I don’t know, 200,000 people an hour or something. It’s on a hill that gives pleasant views of the city.
Once in the park there are paths, trees and some of the usual stuff, then this:
This handsome, Flintstones-inspired work takes advantage of the hillside slope to provide an over-under hang. You may notice the perspective is a little off, that’s not me using a wide lens (I used my phone).
The whole thing is at a bit of a lean. I’m going to guess that there are concrete columns under there and the rocks are stuck on but the effect is… startling.
We had a look at the top of the terrace, mostly because there were fewer people up there.
Sachie found another rock formation to enjoy, but look the other way…
A lovely view of the city with the park church in the foreground.
Yes, the park has a church, doesn’t yours? Doesn’t your local playground at least have a shrine or spirit-house? Of course it doesn’t, this one has a church because it wasn’t going to be a park at all!
Güell was wealthy industrialist, which Barcelona seems to have had in abundance 100 years ago, and this hillside plot was to be a housing development for him and his rich mates. He bought the land and commissioned Gaudi to make it cool. There was one problem, they built it but nobody came.
Well, loads of people go now but nobody bought houses, back then. Güell spent a ton of time and money building facilities but forgot to sell any plots. Tough for him, a win for us. Moving on, there’s a great folly of elevated plaza that was probably for shows and gatherings. In fact, they call it the Greek Theatre.
It’s a bit of a frying pan today but it would be nice in the evening, while cradling a cheeky chilled white or sparkling.
Here’s the view the other way:
It’s a busy, busy tourist attraction.
Here’s a view over the edge, you’ll see that the edge has these seating crescents. They are one of the must-see features of the place.
I confess I don’t have many good photos of these wonders but the one below gives you an idea of what they look like and why they’re hard to photograph.
The thing is, in this digital age of social-media attention-seeking, it’s bloody hard to get a photograph of anything without some want-to-be influencer getting 400 shots from their hectored boyfriend. The exchange went this way.
“Hey, you already have your shots, could you move a bit so I can get a photo?”
“We’ll just be a minute,”
“Listen mate, I didn’t sit on a plane for eight hours and get up early to take photos of Güell Park with your slut girlfriend in front of it,”
“Don’t you call my wife a slut!”
Thump, thump, thump.
Of course, it didn’t turn out that way at all, because I politely waited my turn that never came. I would like a photograph of the object, not a photograph of me in front of the object. Not a photograph of my lady in front of the object. Getting one’s photograph in front of something very much seems like taking or at least gaining some property. I feel so terribly, terribly old.
Downstairs there’s another cavern of leaning columns which is pretty cool for us photographers.
I did, ahem, explore the framing possibilities with a model. Not bad but would be better without the couple at the back, and in low-key black and white.
Underneath there are all these columns and a nice cool space. Not sure what they’d do with this space but it was pleasant this sunny day. But just outside and down the hill…
Here’s the money-shot. Everybody wants a photo of the lizard and it’s nigh-impossible to get one without some fake-titted Instagram model posing in front of it. This is the very best I could do after much trying.
I didn’t have a big-chested Instagram model for this shot but Mrs Sachie volunteered to stand in. I’ll photoshop somebody in her place later.
This is up the hill. There are no particularly photogenic objects to get your photo in front of, other than stunning views of central Barcelona, so it was deserted.
Quite hot though.
And that was more than enough of Güell Park. It is well worth a visit and visually stunning. It put me in the mind of Tokyo Disneyland and I will bet a sizable sum that the Disney artists of the 40s and 50s, even if they had not visited in person, were heavily influenced by Gaudi and this park in particular. But, Christ! Time to get off the feet and into some lunch.
Much restored by tapas, we headed down the hill to the next item on the itinerary. Here’s a hint.
Here’s another. No confetti and no praying. Look out for Big Brother. Have you guessed yet?
It’s this behemoth! I give you LA SAGRADA FAMÍLIAR!
It was our turn to go inside. If you want to go inside, you should book ahead, like a month or two ahead. It’s crowded and has an airport-style security screening process to get in. It’s not cheap. Is it worth it?
It’s pretty cool. I was impressed by the stained-glass windows, which were blazing at this time of day.
As you can see, it’s a bit busy. The good news is that there is lots of seating, for those of us who have been on our feet all day. However, it’s the tourism ground-zero and completely stuffed with dickheads getting their photos in front of things. I’ll admit, I was already pretty frustrated by Gaudi’s other offering in the morning but the Chinese lady in an evening dress in front of the stained-glass window, sad boyfriend getting about 50 frames, put me in a bad mood. I mean, it’s a house of God for Christ’s sake!
No Insta-stars up there. I may be the first person to photograph this view, unless they have some kind of trapeze setup so you can get a lady in a bikini in the shot.
Nope, no wires or ziplines… yet.
The windows really are lovely but we had opted for the optional extras on this visit and it was time to collect.
When you book your ticket, you can pay for a trip up one of the towers. It’s not cheap but not outrageous and I recommend that you do. They limit numbers up there, at least. We went up Nativity Tower.
Here’s our selfie.
As you know, the place is a building site and I am proud to say that the construction guys are as good at sitting around killing time as as the best in the world, and these guys have God as a foreman.
The views are excellent. Barcelona city is kept low-rise for just this purpose.
Safety first. They keep you in a big wire cage to make sure you don’t throw confetti or pray. Makes for a nice photo though.
Sachie is breaking the law by sticking her hands outside the cage. Careful Sachie! A tiger might get you!
What do you think gave them the idea to put a net up there and did they think of it before or after an injury?
Down we go. The towers are hollow, with a stairwell on the outer skin.
Many close-up views of the structure on the way down. Here’s one of those decorative flourishes, only about four stories tall.
Another view of town. I’m posting a lot of photos of this bit because it was really good.
About halfway down the view above is a good one for the aspiring photography student.
Down isn’t too bad either.
As you can see they’re putting the finishing touches on and this basilica will be done in just a jiffy.
Further down. The steps detach from the wall and there is a circular staircase.
Not sure how to interpret this. I think it means don’t stand there like an idiot taking photographs.
And here’s the real reason this place got built. Cold hard cash coins. That’s the Church for you, greedy and tax-free.
Now we are on a spiral staircase, the final bit. I’m looking down and the effect is pretty striking. But if you look up…
There are a bunch of clowns above looking down and taking photos.
And here’s the back door. Apparently made of old printing blocks.
The basilica was designed and started construction during a phase-change in the arts and it’s interesting to see these impressionistic works incorporated.
Ol’ Gaudi didn’t avoid the treatment either.
However, in life (or death) he wasn’t all angles and sharp edges at all, just a fellah who got run over by a tram. That’s his death-mask. We are down in the basement museum now. Well worth a look.
Now this is interesting. There was no finite-element analysis back in the day to judge the load on the structure, so Gaudi made an inverted model of the basilica to measure the force on each part of the building. These are bags of sand to simulate the load of stone, decoration and grubby tourists under gravity. It’s a piece of genius. This is a recreation but they have photographs of the original.
And here we are back outside. I can’t say that I was Gaudi’d-out by the end of the day but I’d had my fill of crowds. Visit in the winter.
Speaking of which, we were there in September and the nights were getting very cold. Well, cold for those of us used to Bangkok. The evening before we passed a mussel restaurant and now it was time to dig in. Three buckets and a bottle of Cava thanks!
And that’s the end of another fabulous but exhausting day. Almost as demanding as writing this blog post but stick around for the finale of this trilogy, Part IV of Barcelona in Stunning Colour.