Day 2 - Casas galore

After another great breakfast, I ventured forth resolving to continue my Gaudi pilgrimage. Getting down at Passeig De Gracia station, I walked around for a bit on the parallel street Rambla De Catalunya before heading to my next destination. It was another gorgeous day and this street had tons of cafeterias with seating on the streets and a nice promanade in the middle.
My first destination of the day was Casa Batllo (pronounced Batyo) was actually almost next door to the metro station.

After walking around a little bit and taking some pictures I got distracted by the building next door - Casa Amatller - a building that looked good but very different from its neighbor.
I wandered indoors knowing next to nothing about the building. After taking some photos of its very ornate entrance hallways, stairways, stained glass skylights and mosaics, I went to the giftshop hoping to find more information.
Here I learnt that the building was designed by a modernistic architect called Josep Puig i Cadafalch for a wealthy chocolatier - Antonio Amatller. While there didn't seem to be any kind of tour to the rest of the house, there was a temporary exhibition of the photos Antonio Amatller took on his travels to Turkey (good photos!).

I went back next door to Casa Batllo and discovered that it would cost me 16 Euros to get in and get the audiotour. I almost refused and I am so glad now that I did go! The price is worth every bit of it and the audiotour was one of the best I'd ever heard explaining in great detail its many features - things one might not notice otherwise. If you are into architecture and are interested in Gaudi, I would most definitely recommend this tour.

The entry way led to an organic hallway which almost felt like being in the belly of some animal because of the curved forms and exotic patterns on the ceilings and walls. A curved wooden stairway with railing suggestive of teeth took people up to an apartment on the main level. The most impressive room was the main living room with the curvaceous windows and stained glass that modulated the sunlight while offering a great view of the street below. The wooden door and window frames undulated in three dimensions. There were also skylights wherever possible. Clearly the man was a fan of daylight and wherever possible, rooms either had windows opening to the street or to one of the two courtyards.

The courtyards themselves were a fine piece of work with blue tiles lining the walls. The blueness increased with height to compensate for varying light levels with height and to give an impression of more light on the lower floors. The windows onto the courtyard on the lower floors were also bigger for this very reason. Also really cool were the balustrade glass panels with varying glass thickness giving the impression of being underwater.

There was a terrace on the lower level with some interesting mosaic work. However the real action was in the roof - 5 storeys above, accessed from an arched loft that supported it.
The loft was built as a place for washing and drying clothes for all the tenants in the apartments. The giant louvers permitted plenty of light and breeze but no rain. A spiral stairway led to the beautifully wild terrace. The wild forms of the chimneys grouped together, the colorful mosaics and the garlic shaped dome all combine to create an unforgettable visual experience.

The stairway down led to a room that was sort of a memorial to Gaudi. I closed my eyes for a minute in gratitude for this marvelous and courageous architect before moving on to the gift shop where I bought a couple of souvenirs in memory of my incredible visit here. Casa Batllo had replaced Casa Mila as my favorite Gaudi building and it would stay there..

After a fantastic lunch of salad and fresh yogurt with fruit for a very reasonable price, I walked further along Paseig De Gracia seeing the shops and coming across two more impressive facades - Gran Via and Casa Mestres. I couldn't go in and photograph the interiors but the exteriors did look impressive. It was somewhere in this vicinity that I also spoke with an Indian - the first I saw of many during the trip. He seemed friendly and offered his phone number and and offer of unstinting help should I ever need it. Luckily for me, I didn't.

My next pilgrimage spot was Casa Vicens - also an apartment building by Gaudi, located in the beautiful neighborhood of Gracia. Unlike the previous buildings, this one was still inhabited by people residing there. So looking inside was out of the question. I walked around taking some photos and feeling jealous of the people who lived there.

After I was done, I walked around some more in Gracia enjoying the ancient streets and squares. Posh shops coexisted side by side with everyday pharmacies, tobacconists (where I sucessfully bought a stamp) and pastry shops. The pastry shops were small and had a selection of goodies which included incredibly soft fresh croissants. There were also coffee shops selling rich dark espressos and cappuchinos.

The guidebook I got from the hotel recommended visiting a square called Pl.Del Diamant which was famous because of a novel about it. I went there and found pigeons, old people seated on benches and children playing with abandon. Such a heartwarming scene after the emptiness of the suburban streets I was used to in North America! There was a shop here with some really interesting lanterns.

After walking some more, I stumbled on Catedral St. Joan- beautiful, run down and locked. I took some photos of the exterior and some of the houses surrounding it before realizing that I was running out of time. I was also very very very tired after all the walking - a constant fact of my next few days since I walked all the time everywhere and wanted to see everything.

After a short nap in the hotel room where my husband met me after his day at the conference, the two of us headed to Las Ramblas for dinner around nine. Although there were many people walking around, most of the street shops were closed and most of the street performers we'd heard of were gone as well. We saw one painted pair who posed willingly for us for a fee of 10 cents.

We roamed around happily for some more time before buying . falafels, salad and fries at a streetside cafe. Finding no place there to sit and eat, we ate at the metro station amidst a not very romantic setting of dirt, grime and mice, before catching the metro back to the hotel.

And so ended the second day.