Barcelona, Spain II: Casa Batlló & Sagrada Familia

One can hardly go to Barcelona without visiting Casa Batlló and judging by the longggg queue outside, I'm sure everyone agrees. I did not go in though because I was turned off by the queue. Kind of regretting it now after seeing some photos of the interior.

Casa Batlló is designed by Gaudi who is the first person you will get to know when you land in Barcelona. He was a Modernisme architect who integrated crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry into his architecture. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which involves the use broken ceramic tiles to form colourful mosaics as can be seen on the benches and the dragon sculpture in Park Güell and also on the façade of Casa Batlló.

The walking guide told us that Modernisme architecture incooperates many natural elements into the designs. You can see that the pillars infront of the windows look like bones and the windows themselves resemble open mouths. So this house has two nicknames, "The house of bones" and "The house of yawns". The "Venetian eye mask" balconies are supposed to evoke imageries of the surface of a lake with water lilies, gentle ripples and reflections caused by the glass and ceramic mosaic. (I still see Venetian eye masks..) The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon. Hmm seems like Gaudi really liked dragons. On top of the building is a cross of four arms oriented to the cardinal directions. It is a bulbous, root-like structure that evokes plant life.

The house next to Casa Batlló is also really intriguing but often overlooked. It's called Casa Amatller designed by Cadafalch, another famous Modernisme architect who designed many significant buildings in Barcelona.

Another famous Gaudi architecture. I was pretty disappointed by the exterior of Sagrada Familia. I guess it was mainly due to the unsightly cranes and scaffolding surrounding it. I don't know why but it just looks so run down.. and they are not even repairing it, they are building it. It broke the Guinness World Record as the building under construction for the longest time. No kidding, seeing that it's still under construction since work began in 1882. Our walking guide said that they are definitely not in a hurry to finish it so that they can stay in the Records longer haha. The carvings are stories from the Bible, such as the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.

I went inside Sagrada Familia after about an hour of standing in the queue. It wasn't that bad because I made a friend in the hostel riiiight before I left for Sagrada Familia. She came up to me and said hi so suddenly I was quite surprised haha. We talked for a bit and she decided to join me so off we went!

We got the student tickets without any add-ons. There is a timing for you to enter, just like the ticket for Park Güell. It was still quite crowded inside despite the attempt to crowd control but I guess it could be worse. The interior was way more impressive than the exterior. I love the tall tinted windows that stretch up to the ceilings! The ceiling was another thing that blew my socks off. How unique is that! I've never seen anything quite like it.. We spent an hour or so inside full of wonder. Gaudi really lives up to his name but he died so unfortunately. He was knocked down by a vehicle one day but because he was dressed so shabbily, people thought he was a homeless beggar and didn't do anything to help him. When someone finally recognized him and sent him to the hospital, it was too late. :( What a tragic tale, the world lost a great architect due to prejudice sigh. Anywayyy, I hope I will get to visit Barcelona again when Sagrada Familia is completed!

I also went to Casa Milà which is apparently the most famous one. It is one of the last buildings of Gaudi's and at this house he broke all arquitectonical taboo and spent a bomb. The owner who was a lawyer didn't want to pay him that much and the two went to court andddd Gaudi won haha. Most unfortunately, the house was under restoration so the facade was covered up. :( On top of the building, you can see these sculptures which look like Darth Raider. Or rather, Darth Raider was perhaps inspired by these sculptures. You can also see them on Sagrada Familia by the way! Try to spot them if you're there. ;) It's on the side where you buy tickets.

Barcelona, Spain I: Birthday in Park Güell

It's the best birthday present I can give to myself - a flight to somewhere new, somewhere unexplored, somewhere beautiful. Just like last year in Paris, this year I flew to Barcelona a day before my birthday. It made my birthday extra long too with the time difference and everything. I hope I can do this every year but I think it would be quite hard from next year onwards since my holidays don't start so early anymore sharks. So despite the long and dreary 8 hours transit in Doha - it was worth it. My transit was at the new Doha Airport and I think not every airline had moved over yet so it was really empty. I should have done a video like this. His video got so huge that HE MET CELION DION OMG!

I reached Barcelona in the afternoon and took the subway to the station near my hostel. My hostel is really near Park Güell, just 10 minutes walk away up a seriously steep hill. I thought I've seen enough steep roads in New Zealand but I was wrong. And when I thought this was the steepest, Lisboa surprised me yet again. I'm just constantly surprised! haha. Anyway, there are escalators that take you up the steps so have no fear.

I went up to the lookout place near Park Guell and it was flooded with people. I had to squeeze on top just to take a few snapshots of the city. You can see Sagrada Familia standing out from the buildings.

Then I walked to Park Guell. There's an entrance fee of 8 EUR, 7 if you book in advance online. And there's an entrance timing for the tickets for crowd control purposes. You can only enter during the time stated on your ticket but once you're inside, you can stay inside for as long as you want. I was debating whether or not to go in because I read somewhere that entrance is free after closing hours and before opening hours.. but I wasn't too sure if it's true. In the end I decided to just go in and join the crowd. Park Guell is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.. I watched Grandpas over Flowers (꽃보다 할배) right before heading to Spain and they happened to visit the exact same places on my itinerary. Since it was a program, the shooting and the editing made the place looked super amazing.. and big.. It was still impressive but I guess I had too much expectations. I think the downfall of this trip was too much expectations, not that I didn't enjoy myself, I just wasn't too impressed. Like for my last trip to Europe, I didn't do any research and didn't expect anything, I just went and I was blown away. So note to self and everyone else, hold back your expectations, just let the place surprise you!

I really like the curvy seats with the mosaic tiles. The two buildings at the front of Park Guell reminds me of Hansel and Gretel, it looks like the house made of sweets and candies they stumbled upon. I wanted to catch the sunset at the lookout point but it wasn't a good angle or was it because the sky was too cloudy? Anyway headed back to the hostel and finally had some sleep in a proper bed after 20+ hours.

Since I still had jetlag, I was awake at 4+am when I was in Barcelona. So one of these mornings, I decided to go catch the sunrise at Park Guell. The beach was supposedly a good place to watch the sunrise but it was a bit far from my hostel. I was the only crazy one up on that lookout point (the one with the cross) at 5am and it was so peaceful. The sky started to change its colour, welcoming a new day.. I thought I wouldn't be able to catch the sunrise because it was behind the hill and justttt as I was giving up. The sun popped out from behind the hill! :D

After the sunset, I walked to Park Guell to try my luck. What do you know, you really CAN enter the park for free before opening hours! And there was practically nobody around. I had the entire place to myself. So now you know, why pay 7/8EUR to fight with the crowd when you can get this whole place to yourself for FREE.

It was nearly impossible to take a photo with this lizard dragon without anyone photobombing you the first time I was there.. Everybody wanted a photo with it, I honestly don't know why. So when I was there the second time, I took about a thousand photos of it HAH. Nah, just kidding but I did take a few selfies with it. I mean, might as well right? :p