Nothing beats sitting on the again of a dragon sipping wine.

Which is the place I discovered myself in Barcelona, Spain, whereas touring Casa Batllo, probably the most extraordinary house I’ve ever visited, with its undulating, whimsical rooftop, full with dragon scales, and skull-like balconies representing the dragon’s victims.

To reach at my prime viewing spot on the out of doors, rooftop terrace, I handed by an inside hallway of arches meant to evoke the dragon’s ribcage.

Casa Batllo, additionally nicknamed “Home of Dragon” and “Home of Bones,” was designed by Barcelona’s most well-known architect Antoni Gaudi, who created the colorful roofline, topped by a cross, as an allegory depicting the battle between the Patron Saint of Catalonia, Saint George, and a dragon.

This fairy-tale, fantastical non-public residence was as soon as the house of rich Barcelona businessman Josep Batllo, who purchased what was initially an austere home in 1904, however needed a residence to rival all the opposite effective properties on Passeig de Gracia, a brand new boulevard the place the wealthy lived.

To try this, he commissioned Gaudi to refurbish the home. After two years, the home was utterly reworked with two new flooring added, a brand new major facade of ceramic glass items that shimmered within the mild, and a singular inside impressed by nature with no sq. edges or corners to be discovered.

Even the partitions are rounded and made to seem like serpent pores and skin — yet one more testimony to Gaudi’s wild creativeness.

As one of many founders of the Catalan Modernism motion, identified for its asymmetrical shapes and curved strains, Gaudi created work that’s simply recognizable and leaves an enduring impression.

The director of the college the place Gaudi studied structure famously mentioned he wasn’t sure whether or not Gaudi was a “genius or a madman,” when he awarded him his architectural diploma.

Clearly, Gaudi was a genius and 7 of his works have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Websites, together with Casa Batllo.

Any customer to Barcelona could be remiss to not do an architectural tour involving a few of Gaudi’s masterpieces, whether or not to see inside one of many wonderful non-public properties he designed, stroll by the municipal public Park Guell he created or go to Gaudi’s greatest and most well-known fee, the Sagrada Familia Basilica, the world’s largest, unfinished Catholic church.

In a metropolis the place Gaudi’s structure is a significant attraction for travellers, the next are a few of his works I visited whereas sightseeing round Barcelona.

The Sagrada Familia Basilica

Arriving in Barcelona, it’s laborious to not discover Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Basilica, which is town’s most well-known landmark and its major non secular and architectural attraction. It towers over all of the close by buildings, standing 138 metres excessive.

Work on the basilica started in 1882, however so far remains to be not accomplished. It’s anticipated the basilica’s last tower can be achieved by 2026 — on the a centesimal anniversary of Gaudi’s demise.

He died in 1926, after being struck by a tram after ending work that day on the Sagrada Familia. He was 73 years outdated. The Sagrada Familia was conceived by Gaudi, a deeply non secular man, as a hyperlink between heaven and earth. In 1914, he stopped accepting different commissions to focus on the Sagrada Familia. The inside has 36 “forest-like” columns reaching as much as heaven. Its partitions embellished with giant, glowing stained glass home windows, with stunning hues of crimson, blue, inexperienced and yellow mild offering the principle supply of sunshine to its inside. Based on Gaudi “straight strains belong to man, however the curved strains belong to God.” The church could have 18 spires when accomplished, representing the 12 apostles, the 4 evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

Park Guell

This magical park is mostly a failed housing undertaking that Gaudi designed in 1900 to be a residential space the place the elite would reside on the southern slope of Mount Carmelo, with magnificent metropolis views under.

Gaudi was commissioned by rich entrepreneur Eusebi Guell, the place the park will get its title, to design 69 homes to be constructed right here, a chapel and a theatre however with an absence of an appropriate transportation system on the time solely two homes have been ever constructed, together with one the place Gaudi lived between 1906 and 1925, earlier than transferring right into a small room within the Sagrada Familia on the finish of his life. His former house within the park is now a museum, and comprises furnishings designed by Gaudi.

The 17-hectare park opened as a metropolis park in 1926 and showcases most of the architectural particulars present in Gaudi’s work, just like the mosaic glass undulating park benches, and a lined walkway with columns formed like bushes. There are lots of photographic factors all through the park, together with the mosaic frog sculpture fountain on the major entrance.

La Pedrera or Casa Mila

This was the final non-public residence designed by Gaudi and is thought for its stone facade and roof terrace with 28 chimneys in a number of teams, that seem like sculptures. The stairwells and chimneys look out over a tremendous metropolis view.

Le Pedrera means “stone quarry” in Catalan. The home was completed in 1912 and took six years to finish.

Notice: Tickets typically promote out to see the interiors of Gaudi’s works, significantly The Segrada Familia, so it’s finest to get tickets on-line prematurely of your go to. Additionally, attempt to go to early within the day to witness the daylight lighting up the Basilica’s inside from the various stained glass home windows. The associated fee for a guided audio tour is about 30 Euros for an grownup or $43.50 Canadian.

The entry payment to Park Guell is 10 Euros or $14.50 and the price to go to Casa Batllo is 35 Euros or $50 Canadian, or you may pay 45 Euro or $65 Canadian for a quick previous that gives entrance as effectively to a number of the household’s non-public furnished rooms. I opted for the gold move and felt, whereas the value was excessive, it was price it to permit me to totally discover this extraordinary house.