gaudi

Couple of posts back, I talked about Sagrada Familia, a beautifully designed church by the famous Antoni Gaudí. Another architecture beauty designed by Gaudí is the Casa Batlló, and I was just as excited whilst visiting it.

We visited the house in the day, but I much prefer its facade in the night

In my opinion, Casa Batlló isn't very big. It does look different from the buildings beside it, but not in an "in your face" way. Its subtle, but I swear its beautiful.

You have to go in. Just pay for the entrance fees, and take the tour.

Between Casa Batlló and Casa Milà, we chose to visit Casa Batlló because I preferred the facade of Casa Batlló and there was some sort of construction going on in Casa Milà. Observing the number of tourist and the queue at both houses, many seem to agree with me.

But don't worry about the queue - though it may look quite long, it sure moves fast!

Talking about the Facade of Casa Batlló, it's so cool that it has 3 different segments. Casa Batlló is sometimes termed as the skeleton building, because of the way it is designed. The design of the facade seems to resemble something halloween-esque. I can't even attempt to describe it, so i'll just let the picture do the talking.

Another reason to pay 18+ euros for the entrance fees is - The audio guide for the Casa Batlló is really good. It is detailed and interactive, plus they pose thought provoking questions throughout the tour. Which I really liked.

Such little things made the whole tour a lot more entertaining and enjoyable.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died half way through, so these photos are mostly from Jerald's camera.

Gaudi's inspiration for this house seem to be like the ocean or water, with all the curvy lines and wavy textures. It looked really dreamy, and evoked a calming sensation when you're walking around.

Once again, it's unfathomable, the amount of talent it took to design something like this.

The ceilings, the stairs, the handrails for the stairs, the windows, the doors, the DOOR HANDLES - yes, even the handles were ergonomically designed - were just designed to complement each other so seamlessly.

My favourite part was this central "channel" through the whole building. It is something like a light well and was designed to allow natural light into the house. An idea that only comes from a Brilliant Mind.

When you look up through the channel, you'll just be amazed at its design.

On the upper floors of the building, the hallways and stairs were all white. And I LOVE WHITE. So yes, I was very excited!

The audio guide said that the design of the hallway resembled something like a ribcage of a huge animal. And at that moment I thought "that is so true!!"

I never liked paying for entrance fees into museums / buildings - yes I have been spoilt by all the free entrances I got during my time Paris. Nevertheless, If you're ever in Barcelona, there is no reason to not go into Casa Batlló. It IS worth it. I just wish the house was bigger so I could see more and hear more about the inspirations behind the talented mind of Gaudi.

On the highest floor of the building, you get to see the designs of the chimneys. The colourful rooftop reminded me of a dragon tail. Haha! Maybe its just me and my imagination, but there is a slight resemblance.

Here's something funny - Whilst editing the photo above, I was thinking to myself "Damn why is that girl there, should I attempt to photoshop her away?" But, I don't really photoshop and alter my photos too much, so I left it as it is, and I JUST realise, that girl is me.

I don't have a picture of the room labelled 16, but it was suppose to be for a water storage tank, and when you go in to the room, you really do feel like you're IN a water tank. Like the mermaid living in the water tank in the show Aquamarine - don't know how that reference came about.

But it was so cool to hear the drops of water, and see how they designed the lighting in the room to mimic that of being underwater.

I'm not too sure if its just a touristy gimmick, but I liked the "hollow" feeling you get when you're in that room.

From the chunk of text and 9 pictures, you can tell that I WANT to live here.

I wish modern day buildings have that much detail to them. I get that in this day and age everything needs to be sleek, clean and minimalistic. But sometimes I wish we could turn back time and have buildings designed like this.

Best of Architecture - Gaudí House, Casa Batlló

6 November 2014 Casa Batlló, Passeig de Gràcia, 43, 08007 Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

If you've ever talked to me about sports, you'll know that my only form of exercise comes from dance. Or walking. I don't run or play sports, I've never enjoyed playing ball games, or made any form of effort to visit the gym/go for a hike. The only time I climb the stairs when I'm on a holiday, is to get up to the highest level of a building to get a good view.

Basically, I'm just quite lazy. If there is an escalator, i'd take the escalator.

The last evening in Barcelona, we took a little walk to Parc Güell. If I'm not wrong, it's the biggest park in Barcelona. We were walking from the train station and some how came face to face with a steep inclined hill, accompanied buy what seemed like 80 steps. We climbed up mid way and I questioned if we were heading in the right direction.

We approached a local, and she said yes, we were, and that we just had to go on straight, turn right, continue on straight, turn left, continue on ahead and we'd arrive at Parc Güell.

Well, that was when we realised every turning involved climbing more steps.

After finally reaching what seemed to be the park entrance, to my dismay, we saw a stretch of escalators leading up to it. On the account that my throat was sore, and my nose was blocked/ I was feeling really lethargic - that was pretty much a hike up a hill. The plus side to climbing up is you do get to enjoy really good views along the way, and stop to take photos. You can't exactly stop on an escalator.

We decided to sit down at one of the wooden tables and benches before attempting to find the place with the Monuments. When we were about to sit down, we saw the same old lady we met on our short "hike" up to the park. She was just chillin' at one of the other benches, as if her climb up was effortless.

And here's me post climb, standing there staring towards the sun looking very tired, refusing to move my feet. As 2 supposedly fit and healthy young adults, Jerald and I felt really ashamed for taking so long to get up there and yet, feeling quite tired from the climb.

Parc Güell has more of an organic feel to it, unlike the usual pretty well groomed and clean parks i'm so used to visiting in big cities. It felt more like a forest/jungle - really tall trees covering the sunlight, slightly muddy, and narrow trails. Well, I have never been to a forest or a jungle, but you get what I mean.

After a 5 min rest and taking my medication, we headed towards the monuments in Parc Güell. This part of the park seems to be a lot more populated.

As I wasn't feeling too well that day, we initially thought of heading back early and giving the park a miss. But, I insisted (and convinced my body - mind over body!!) that I was well enough to continue with the day's plan and I was glad we ended up going to Parc Güell!

The part of the park with the monuments was more touristy, plus you have to pay to get in. That being said, it was nice to take a look at different parts of the park. After climbing all the way up, we might as well pay to go in since it wasn't that expensive. It was an interesting place to explore and watch the sun set. Unlike the other areas of the park, this area around the monuments felt more resort like. I don't remember if there were student offers, but if you do decide to go into the paid area of the park, ask anyway.

The thing about Barcelona is, sometimes, they don't display the student prices or announce that they have discounts/offers for students even though they do have them. So just double check to be sure you're not over paying.

Thinking back, I'm quite glad Jerald and I took a longer route up to the park. The climb up was nice and quiet. There were houses on top and along each slope, and its so cool how the people living there are so used to the "work out". An elderly man just walked right past us and he was not panting one bit!

I think everyone should climb up to Parc Güell instead of taking the escalator. It isn't that much of a climb really - compared to 300+ steps up various towers in Europe. If I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed the climb so much more had I not been sniffling the whole time.