Funky Gaudi

Was well-rested after sleeping 9hr last night! Wow, never knew I was that bushed...

Anyway, quickly made my way out of my pad asap to make up for lost time yesterday and immediately got to Casa Batllo - a UNESCO World Heritage building designed by Antoni Gaudi, the father of Modernisme architecture in Spain (more specifially, Barcelona). You simply cannot escape this guy wherever you travel within Barcelona, it is Gaudi this, Gaudi that. By the way, he also built Temple De La Sagrada Familia. We´ll come to that later.

Casa Batllo is cool as the construction of the whole house was predicated on nature. The undulating shapes, irregular sizes and colour interplay are suggestive of the internal structure of a whale while other parts resemble corals and shelf fish. Really interesting as the conceptualization of the building is so original that no other building in the world comes close to it.

As for Temple De La Sagrada Familia, it was the same story. Although the theme is not marine life but Christian works (check out the various stories of the Bible in the sculptures), Gaudi´s touch was absolutely manifest from the design of the pillars, the naves to the arches, etc. I had previously thought that I had enough of Europe´s churches with the typical Gothic arches or other more recent neo-classical ones but after seeing Gaudi´s creation, I am amazed. Though half-completed, it is truly a stunning display of genius. Were it not for his early demise in the mid 1920s and the Spanish Civil War, the construction of this church might have progressed further. Without the personal direction of Gaudi and given the behemoth nature of this undetaking, I figure this will take another 50 years to complete (building started in 1893).

Anyway, that´s all for now folks, it is dinner time for Jerry the intrepid traveller. Needs some more chow to get further inspiration to regale you with more exciting tales of my travels (hopefully).