Did I know much about Antoni Gaudí before today? No. Am I glad I know more about him now? Undoubtably. 

Before we go more into Gaudí, let me tell you about our lovely morning which consisted primarily of the beach (yay!). All 3 of us woke up this morning and excitedly packed our little bags for an excursion we had all been waiting for – Barceloneta Beach! We jumped on then metro (with potentially 1,000 others) and towards the salt and sand. Wow. Umbrellas and people as far as the eye could see! We stoll ourselves a patch of sand and enjoyed some quality downtime (although it was interrupted every now and then by offers for towels, massages, water, alcohol, warnings and jellyfish sightings and a “party” or two). As beautiful as it was to lay on the beach, one can’t help but notice how incredibly beautiful the Australian beaches are, and appreciate what you had growing up at home!



After a quick stop back at the hostel to freshen up we made our way to the Mercado de la Boqueria for lunch-on-the go. If you ever go to Barcelona you should check this place out! It is a hustle and bustle of people, food, colour, sound and smells that you wouldn’t want to miss! Not to mention all the tasty treats you can grab! 

Ah – now we can focus on the main event, Antoni Gaudí!! Another Sandermans Tour, this time with Macu, another terrific guide! He showed us around the beautiful Eixample district where the best examples of Gaudí can be easily discovered on foot, and ended at the unfinished masterpiece of Sagrada Família. Here is a little bit about what I learnt about Gaudí and his work – 
He is crazy, creative and has talent falling off him – I mean his work speaks for itself, each building is incredible and hard to explain

He had not a care for rules or regulations – for one of his building, 1/3 of the cost of construction went to paying fines because he didn’t want to abide by the city’s “constraints”

He loved nature – one can see nature in all his projects, some looking like the sea, some like sand, and some like a forest, never a straight line to be found. You can even find a cheeky dragon or two!

He may have never known how talented or loved he was (or perhaps he was just a mad-man) – Gaudí was killed when hit by a trolley car (not wearing his glasses), and after he was found in the poorest hospital in Barcelona by his friends, refused to go to a better hospital to save his life as he believed he was born poor, and should die poor. 15,000 people followed his coffin. Poor he was not.

Gaudí’s incredible buildings are a monument not just to his distinctive genius but to the spirit of a generation. The 19th-century Catalan Renaissance saw the cultural rebirth of a nation that reached its peak with the Modernisme movement. Gaudí and his contemporaries took the spirit of the times and mixed modern techniques with traditional craftsmanship to enrich Barcelona.

After being blown away by his “smaller projects” we were taken to see Sagrada Família which is nothing short of breath-taking. No photo does it justice. Every inch of this building tells a story, every inch of it is dedicated to Catalonia. Now when we heard that he had taken casts of people’s faces for the moulds of the statues, including a donkey and a deceased baby, we did think he may have taken it a bit too far, but you cannot say that the city and its people was not represented in this masterpiece. All of this before you even step inside!! (Again I would highly recommend getting a ticket online to avoid a horrendous wait time, or worse still not being able to see inside)

Inside Sagrada Família is a world unto its own. The inside is designed to look like a forest, and with the positioning of the pillars and the formation of the stain glass windows, the light in the church looks like beams of light streaming through a forest. We were told that the church looks different at each time of day because of this. It is …. Indescribable. Go see for yourselves. It’s worth it! And who knows, you will probably still have another 150 years until it is finished anyway! How many times can you say you visited a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while still under construction? 

As we had enjoyed some not-so-delicious tapas (awful prawns and everything else was a bit odd too) near the Sagrada Família while we waited for our entrance time, we grabbed a bite for dinner at our hostel and then headed out for one more destination – the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc. It was a spectacular display of colour, light, motion, music and water acrobatics – magic! I would highly recommend this for any trip to Barcelona, it was such a pleasure to sit with two friends, and watch some magic, the world and a whole bunch of people go by.