Written by: Dylan Hickey
Finally! Our last trip and we escaped the grueling heat of Madrid to travel to Barcelona! We took a two hour train to Barcelona and trekked our way to the Generator Hostel for our two night stay. Following moving into the hostel, we made our way to the Basilica Sagrada Familia to check out the staple work of Antoni Gaudí. Gaudí is one of the pioneers of Modernist Architecture. He is mainly known for his works in Catalan Modernism. The basilica blew us away just for its sheer size. But more than that, the intricacy of the figures in the structure are astonishing. The figures are also distinct from most of the figures in other cathedrals because of the modernist influence. Though we could also see the differences between Gaudí’s work and what was added after his death (the cathedral is still being built today based on Gaudí’s plans and will likely never be finished because of permitting issues). Gaudí died tragically after getting hit by a tram in the street and passed away in the hospital. The work done by Gaudí is much more intricate while the areas recently added have a more 21st century feel. The inside of the basilica is also very modern with massive columns and a somewhat natural feel as the architecture seems to blend what we would see in nature. The stained glass also lets light in very well and makes it shine various different colors throughout the day.
The next day, we visited Casa Batlló which is considered Gaudí’s masterpiece. He designed this house for a very wealthy family and it has similar feelings to that of the Sagrada Familia. It has a smooth feel as the walls seem very wavy like one would see in nature. This was his intention in this house. For example, as we ascended the stairs, the tiles on the wall got more and more dark blue, which gave the effect that we were descending into the ocean. Really all of Gaudí’s work was connected to nature and we saw this effect to the greatest degree in Parque Güell. This park had so many spectacular views of the city of Barcelona and we could even see all the way to the Mediterranean. It also housed very famous works of Gaudí. His work was obvious that it was man made because of the colors and feel and different materials, though he still did a tremendous job integrating the work into nature. It could be said his architecture blurs the line between architecture and nature to make the two seem like one. On the last day in Barcelona, we checked out of Generator Hostel and took a train to the Beach! We traveled 40 minutes by train to Stiges and went to Platja de Sant Sebastià. It was very nice to feel the ocean water after being landlocked for the month. We were also treated to delicious paella from Costa Dorada right near the beach. If you ever decide to get paella in Spain, definitely get it near the ocean. After our beach day, we went back to catch our train at 8:30 back to Madrid. Our train was supposed to take 2 hours but we took an unexpected pit stop in Zaragoza as the train broke down and also had no AC! Our stop was about an hour and a half and we killed the time by taking group selfies, playing with mambo (profe’s puppy), and singing with profe! Finally we made our way back to Madrid and got home at about 2 in the morning. After quite an eventful trip, we were able to sleep in and work on our final projects due Sunday!
