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<\/a><\/p>\nThe group of 26 headed off with\u00a0 Judy after breakfast and (with my lunch sandwich) to The Rambla de Catalunya.<\/h2>\nThis picture is near the upper end of this boulevard not far from our hotel.<\/h2>\n
Go To Page 3<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Howdy Gaudi Here we are on Day 3 of our trip. The group of 26 headed off with\u00a0 Judy after breakfast and (with my lunch sandwich) to The Rambla de Catalunya. This picture is near the upper end of this … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\nHere is Antoni Gaudi\u00a0 (1852 – 1926).\u00a0The son of a coppersmith, Gaud\u00ed\u00a0was born on June 25, 1852, and took to architecture at a young age. He attended school in Barcelona, the city that would become home to most of his great works.\u00a0Gaud\u00ed\u00a0was part of the Catalan Modernista movement, eventually transcending it with his nature-based organic style.\u00a0 Some of his architecture is shown below.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nOur first stop was on\u00a0the Passeig de Gracia\u00a0 to view the\u00a0<\/strong>Casa Mira la Pedrera by Gaudi:<\/h2>\n
This is Gaud\u00ed\u2019s first important building.\u00a0 Built between 1883 and 1888, Casa Mira is an imaginative residential project made for a wealthy family that owned a ceramic factory. This is clearly reflected in the \u201ctrencadis<\/em><\/strong>\u201d* fa\u00e7ade that contains a significant variety of ceramic decorations.\u00a0 You can also see some Islamic architecture influences in its fa\u00e7ade and some of its rooms.<\/h2>\n
*Trencad\u00eds\u00a0<\/b>is a type of mosaic\u00a0used in\u00a0Catalan modernism<\/span>\u00a0created from broken tile shards.<\/h2>\n
Later on Bob, Sandra (The 3rd Amigo) and I revisited the\u00a0Casa Mira and toured the roof. Pics later.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThe Casa Batll\u00f3 by Gaudi,\u00a0<\/b>The local name for the building is\u00a0Casa dels ossos<\/i>\u00a0(House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal\u00a0organic quality. The building looks very remarkable \u2014 like everything Gaud\u00ed designed, only identifiable as Modernism or Art Nouveau\u00a0in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.<\/span><\/h2>\n
It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the facade\u00a0is decorated with a mosaic\u00a0made of broken ceramic tiles (trencad\u00eds<\/a>) that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof is arched\u00a0and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of center, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of St George\u00a0(patron saint of Catalonia, Gaud\u00ed’s home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon (The green scaly looking part of the roof.).<\/span><\/h2>\n
\u00a0From the outside the fa\u00e7ade of Casa Batll\u00f3 looks like it has been made from skulls and bones. The “skulls” are in fact balconies and the “bones” are supporting pillars. The skulls and bones are supposed to represent the maidens devoured by the Dragon that St George slew.<\/span><\/h2>\n
Enough of Gaudi for a few moments.\u00a0 We went back to the hotel or restaurants and had our “lunch on our own”\u00a0 I sat on a bench on Las Ramblas and ate my sandwich and a couple of plums and watched the crowds walk by.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAfter lunch we gathered again for a bus ride to the Sagrada Familia church:\u00a0\u00a0The Basilica\u00a0Church of the Holy Family\u00a0It is a large unfinished Roman Catholic\u00a0church designed by\u00a0 Gaudi.<\/h2>\n
In 1882 construction of Sagrada Fam\u00edlia commenced under architect Francisco Paula de Villar until 1883, when Villar resigned.<\/sup>\u00a0Gaud\u00ed took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic\u00a0and curvilinear Art Nouveau\u00a0forms. Gaud\u00ed devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThis is a model of the Church.\u00a0 The white areas are not yet built including the main spire dedicated to Jesus also has to be built.<\/h2>\n
We went inside using doors below the strange looking structure in the lower center.\u00a0 Under this structure are numerous sculptures depicting the many phases of the life of Jesus: Birth to death.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nHere is that structure in detail.\u00a0 Note the relative size of the people.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThe inside is a forest of columns that look like trees and along the sunny side there are windows with multi colored stained glass.\u00a0 Light was pouring in and illuminating the interior with color.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe altar was surrounded by massive columns that will one day support the tallest central “Jesus” spire.\u00a0 In this pic it looks like Jesus is parachuting onto the altar.\u00a0It is anticipated that the building could be completed by 2026\u2014the centenary of Gaud\u00ed’s death<\/h2>\n
After shuff<\/span>ling through the church, we re-boarded the bus for a\u00a0quick drive to the Mediterranean coast:The Costa Brava.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/h2>\nToo bad we couldn’t stay longer!<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\nA couple of interesting structures near the beach…<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nA ways down the coast is the Columbus\u00a0Statue and Column.\u00a0<\/span>At the very top of the monument stands a 24\u00a0ft tall bronze\u00a0statue atop a 131\u00a0ft tall Corinthian column. The statue was sculpted by Rafael Atche\u00a0and is said to depict Columbus pointing towards the New World\u00a0with his right hand, while holding a scroll in the left. \u00a0It is more likely that the statue is situated in the current way simply to have Columbus point out to sea underscoring his achievements in naval exploration.<\/h2>\n
Pedestal of Columbus Monument<\/h2>\n
The column, hung with a device bearing an anchor, stands on an octagonal Pedestal\u00a0from which four bronze winged victories\u00a0take flight towards the four corners of the world, above paired griffins. Four buttresses against the octagonal pedestal bear portrait medallions\u00a0that depict persons related to Columbus:<\/h2>\n
Enough of Columbus for a while.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWe took the Metro back towards the Hotel.\u00a0 Judy had us each give her a Euro and she bought 26 tickets on discount.\u00a0 She would put in a ticket and yell “GO!” and one of us would run thru the gate.\u00a0 She was the last through and she saved us some Euros!\u00a0 Very smart lady!<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHere’s Bob Wahl enjoying a Metro ride in a clean, quiet seat.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWe left the group near the\u00a0Casa Mira.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/h2>\nBob Wahl,\u00a0 Sandra Lara (above. “The 3rd Amigo\/Amiga”), and I took a tour of the Casa Mira. This amounted to an elevator ride to the roof and a walk down.<\/h2>\n
(This picture was taken at a later date in a Pigeon Park in Madrid.) That’s Juanjo our main trip leader in the background.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nOur tour started on the roof. (Note the Sagrada Familia Church in the distance.)<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHere are some of the bizarre shapes on the roof.\u00a0 Some are vents, some are chimneys. They sort of look like helmeted knight’s heads.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/h2>\nThis is a view from the roof down to a boulevard below. The Passeig de Gracias. In the distance is the Mediterranean.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBelow the roof is the attic, There was an amazing number of different arches that created the wavy look to the roof.<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHere is a model of the arches holding up the roof. They look like a sinuous snake skeleton, don’t they?<\/h2>\n
After all that excitement, The 3 Amigos went to dinner at a Tapas restuarant and then called it quits for the day.\u00a0 So ended Day 3.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n