Barcelona is a bit tricky subject to write about. For one the fact that it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world means that there will be an abundance of guides, stories and photos like mine. Second, there is a tendency to focus only on Gaudi, amazing urbanism and Tapas :) Third, there is a lot that can be said about its people, culture and Catalan uprising that is evident everywhere.

However, I’ve felt that I have something to add to it all, hence this is Barcelona as seen through my lens.

Gaudi

Speaking of the second point, there’s no way of avoiding it. Although Gaudi ≠ Barcelona, he is one of the biggest reasons that Barcelona is found on many people bucket lists. Goudy was quite controversial in his time but his vision proved to be pure genius. As a result, his buildings are captivating people’s imagination to this day and they remain fresh, modern and beautiful as they did a century ago.

I suggest that you do some research about him, it’s worth a while. If you prefer the smell of the print and paper you can check out this great book on amazon that I got as a birthday present a while ago.

Sagrada Familia

My actual journey started with Sagrada Familia. It was more or less the first thing I saw when I arrived late at night and it was a love at first sight. It is very hard to describe it or to depict it with photos.

One interesting thing is that it is actually an active building site, even though it’s open to visit. It is also interesting to see the crowds of fascinated people and everyday life of locals happening within meters.

Casa Milà – La Pedrera

Barcelona is well famous for its long straight streets, a strict grid pattern crossed by wide avenues and blocks with chamfered corners called “illes”, shown in this small diagram. Many of these host some pretty amazing architecture and one of these is a home for Casa Milà, the last private residence designed by Gaudi in 1906.

The front and side of the building flowing organically decorated with railings built from scrap metal.

Details of the whale roof construction

Park Güell

By now you did your fair share of walking in the city and you deserve a break in nature. One of the more popular options is Park Güell, situated in a natural park where Güell and Goudi imagined a commercial housing site.

Gaudi designed the park in his naturalistic phase where everything was inspired by nature and organic shapes. He also used the park to test out structural concepts that he would later apply on Sagrada Familia.

To be honest it was tough selecting just a handful of the images to feature in this post. I do have the tendency to present it all in bulk.

I do hope that you’ve found them inspiring enough to think about (re)visiting Barcelona… as soon as this pandemic passes.