Tag: Gaudí

Tourism

Tarragona: ancient Roman city

Mom’s visit after school let out at the end of May provided a great excuse to visit another area on our bucket list: Tarragona, a Catalan port city on the Costa Daurada (Golden Coast) of the Mediterranean, south of Barcelona and north of Valencia. The city, known as Tarraco during the Roman Empire, has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to its wealth of Roman ruins. The region of Catalonia is just a short coastal train journey from where we were living in the Valencian Community. But, of course, our train was a few minutes late again… Dreamer is

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Barcelona / Tourism

Barcelona 3.2: Gettin’ Sagrada

During our third visit to Barcelona, we finally saw one of the most iconic symbols of the city: La Sagrada Familia. Although we also discovered the works of another master architect during our April trip, we just couldn’t let a visit go by without seeing something created by our favorite Catalan modernist, Antoni Gaudí. And boy, was it something – many people (probably most) consider La Sagrada Familia his unfinished masterpiece. Construction of La Sagrada Familia, or The Church of the Holy Family, began in 1882, and Gaudí took over the project a year later. Even though he was completely devoted to

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Tourism

La Pedrera – Gaudí Scares Some Witches

While Doer felt a slight preference for Palau Güell, I fell hard for Casa Milà, popularly known as la Pedrera (which translates to “stone quarry”). It’s famous for its undulating stone facade, and (of course) its iconic rooftop sculptures. This was designed to be an apartment building, and people still live in some of the units today.       Once again, the roof was the crown jewel of the structure. Although they were the first part of the tour – you begin by taking an elevator to the rooftop, then you slowly make your way down – I’m going to

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Barcelona / Tourism

Palau Güell – Our First Brush With Gaudí

  During our Halloween-weekend visit to Barcelona, the modernist architecture of Antoni Gaudí captured our hearts and imaginations. But we didn’t get our fill. Visiting the famous Catalan architecht’s works should not be a rushed affair; that, combined with sold-out tickets at Park Güell and a ridiculously long line at Casa Batlló definitely guarantees we will make a second trip to Barcelona (and hopefully many more – it’s an amazing city). Not to mention we didn’t get anywhere close to his magnum opus, la Sagrada Família. We saw it from a distance on several occasions, but never passed the threshold. Our first

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