A Gaudí Day

Antoni Gaudí is nothing short of an artistic and mathematical genius. His architecture has played a huge role in shaping what Barcelona looks like today. His work is inspired by nature--the naturally occurring shapes of honeycombs, the rotation of the earth on its axis, the way trees in a rain forest grow into canopies. It's quite easy to fill up a day of sightseeing in Barcelona dedicated to Gaudí alone, which is more or less how we spent our Sunday.

We started out at his most famous work, La Sagrada Família.

This church has been in the building process since 1882. It is unlike anything I've ever seen before. The entire face of the church looks like a beautiful sandcastle that's melting away in the sun. If the outside couldn't be magnificent enough, the inside was just even more mind-blowing.

The columns inside La Sagrada Família were designed to resemble tree trunks that open up into a canopy on the ceiling.  The curves of the twisted staircases are inspired by the way the Earth turns and there is enough space for 1,000 choir singers to line the balconies.

The stained glass is vibrant and full of a kind of joy that completely contrasts the somewhat dark and sad exterior of the church.

However, Gaudí has touched Barcelona in many more ways than just the Sagrada Família. He has many casas around the city, all featuring his curvy and naturalistic architecture. Many of them line La Gràcia, a huge shopping avenue. 

La Casa Milà looks like coral plucked from the depths of the ocean.

Casa Battló is a stone's throw away and is another Gaudí Art Nouveau masterpiece, complete with a curious, almost skeletal-like exterior.

Park Güell features even more Gaudí architecture, and also lends some of the most fantastic views of Barcelona. This park is the definition of whimsical, full of creative architectural elements and unreal views of the Mediterranean metropolis.

Later that night, we met up with the people who ran our free walking tour yesterday for a Tapas tour around dinner time. Tapas are basically any kind of food you eat with a drink. It's most common to eat tapas after work to meet up with friends and tide you over until dinner, as dinner is served later in Spain than we're used to. Our guide, a local from Barcelona, brought us over to a tapas bar in Barceloneta for some Michelen rated food. We quickly made friends with the dozen or so other people on the tour with us--some from other countries, backpacking or vacationing, other Americans working in Spain or studying somewhere in Europe. 

The tour started with the Catalan classic, a simple bit of toasted bread rubbed with garlic, tomatoes, and olive oil. Next were a few meat options I didn't try, and some of the most perfectly cooked asparagus I've ever had, dressed with balsamic and fresh creamy cheese. 

The highlight for all of us were the patatas bravas. They're basically homefry-style potatoes covered in cayenne and dressed in a flavored mayonnaise sauce. I am not at all a fan of mayonnaise, but I am definitely a huge fan of patatas bravas. My friends 100% agreed, and it's safe to say this is where the obsession began.

The food was all so delicious that I didn't even stop to snap any pictures! But here's some from the web so you can imagine all the culinary deliciousness:

We then moved on to a smaller hole in the wall-type place where we drank out of huge vase-like glass containers called porrons, filled with sangria and beer. The trick is to not let the spout touch your mouth so you can share it with all of your friends.

Not exactly the most graceful way to enjoy your sangria, but certainly a unique one.

We ended the tour at a bar, where we hung out for the night with all of the great people we met.