Gaudi: Crazy Brilliant

One View of La Sagrada Familia

I'm not really sure how to describe Gaudi's design style, but for your sake I'll give it a shot.  It is abstract, but based in nature and geometry.  Things aren't square or rectangular (rooms, doors, windows), which is something we don't (at least I don't) really even consider as being something to change.  Mosaics are quite frequent, because they allow shapes to influence one another and create something greater than the sum of the pieces, especially when they take the form of abstract stained glass windows.  And while there is simplicity in some of his work, I would say more often he keeps adding things so that you would think it is over the top, but it somehow works.

All of this to say that I love Gaudi.  I could have sat and stared at the intricacies of La Sagrada Familia for hours (we did stay there for a while just looking!).  The church is still under construction - since the 1880s - and won't be done for at least another decade.  However through the scaffolding and around the curtains you can see that every surface is unique and the shapes are all so different than any other church I've seen.  It's hard to explain, so take a look at the pictures of his work and look for some others via Google.

Gaudi Mosaics

In addition to La Sagrada Familia, we walked around Parc Guell, a park he designed that has serpentine paths making their way up and down the hill, a beautiful mosaic pavilion, and the famous Gaudi mosaic dragon.  Kat and I also added Casa Mila (aka La Pedera) to our Gaudi day, which is an apartment he designed.  Again with the nothing square!

It had a roof full of funky sculptures (some looked like abstract ice cream cones, some like warriors), an "attic" with scale models of his designs, and an apartment where you could experience the atypical shapes of rooms and furniture firsthand.  Amazing stuff!

Dinner was tapas and sangria, followed by gelato.  Yum!  The next day was cut short due to traveling (I jumped a plane to Rome!) but we took a quick trip to the beach to dip our toes in the water.  It had beautiful clear, clean water and made me wish we could have spent the day and gone swimming!  However new cities and countries were waiting...