I had never heard of Antoni Gaudi before our trip to Barcelona, or if I had, it was long forgotten. What I soon realized though is that there is no Barcelona without Gaudi and there is no Gaudi without Barcelona. It is impossible to walk throughout the city and not find yourself gazing upon one of his creations at some point. I have always loved art and typically know a significant amount of artists but the difference with Gaudi is that he is called an Architect, and I have never really paid attention to the names of architects. But Gaudi certainly is an artist and created some of the most stunning modern architecture I have ever seen.
Since I had never heard of Gaudi, I had relatively low expectations of the first two locations on our list – Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia. In fact, I was going to let the hubs take a trip without visiting a cathedral and skip the La Sagrada altogether until the hotel hostess insisted it was the one thing we HAD to do! (Thank god for her!) We booked a 1-hour walking tour at Park Guell to start because I thought this would be a good way to learn about the artist we had just discovered. We ended up being 2 of 3 people on the walking tour which was really nice.
The main area of the park is open and free to everyone but the central area is monitored and requires a guide for entrance in order to limit the amount of people in there at a certain time. There are so many unique pieces in the gardens it really helped having someone explain them and point out different details — like how the “mushroom” chimney at the top of one of the houses is actually made using upside down tea cups — or how Gaudi only uses colors to mimic nature – so greens & browns tend to be on the bottom half and blues and whites will be on the upper half.
The sculptures and tilework were so amazing everywhere you looked. The benches at the top were beautiful but also functional, Gaudi designed them for the body to relax into the seats – if you try to sit straight up, youre actually uncomfortable so it forces you to relax and let the curve of the seat support you! Unfortunately, we were on a short-weekend time crunch and only gave ourselves about an hour and a half to experience it all but if you have multiple days in Barcelona, you should allow yourself several hours to explore and take it all in!
After the park I was even more excited to see La Sagrada Familia. When most people talk about its “claim to fame” they talk about the fact that it has been under construction for over a century. The first stone was laid in 1866 but Gaudi did not take over construction until 1883. He worked on the cathedral while working on other projects, walking an hour from the park each day and back, until 1914 when he put all of his efforts into the church. While his designs were forthcoming, construction was slow and he died in a tram accident in 1926. The tours are a little pricy (as far as churches go) but well worth the price. We opted out of the audio guide and I wish we had not. La Sagrada Familia is definitely the most beautiful cathedral I have been to, and I have been to close to 1000 churches, if not more. If you make your way there in the next couple of years, expect there still to be some cranes in your way….the goal is to have it completed (for real) by 2022!
With my love of Gaudi well cemented in my heart after these two stunning sites, I was determined to make time for at least one more Gaudi masterpiece. There are several houses he designed throughout the city (Casa Calvet, Casa Vicens, Casa Batllo, La Pedrara) that you are able to take tours of and we decided to go with Casa Batllo. This is another tour that is greatly benefited by the audio guide as you really learn the extent of Gaudi’s attention to detail.
The guide is on an iphone and actually shows you what the rooms looks like with furniture in them! Some of them even show you what Gaudi’s vision was — like the fireplace video shows you a mushroom before it bursts into the flames of the fireplace — because the room is shaped like a mushroom! It’s a really awesome use of technology! The house was so beautiful with so many interesting details and thought put into it. My favorite was the stairwell because the changing shades of blue tile and the grooved glass make you feel like you could be going underwater! I would love to go back some day and check out the other houses too!
I was really blown away by how much I loved Gaudi’s work…especially because I don’t typically like gaudy things (see what I did there?)! There was something so magical about all of these locations that made me feel like I was in some painting or other world. 
Expert Tip: Buy your tickets for everything online! We skipped every line (and saved $$ on every ticket) by buying the tickets on our phones and scanning them in!
Xx
Kali