Let's Go Europe 2011: The Student Travel Guide
Page 188
ARCHITECTURE
93 216 03 06 www.casabatllo.es
From the spine-like stairwell wrapping around the scaled building’s interior to the undulating dragon-esque curve of the ceramic rooftop, the Casa Battló will have you wondering what kinds of drugs Gaudí was rectally injecting. This architectural wonderland was once the home of the fantastically rich and is now the most heavily frequented of the three modernista marvels in the Manzana de la Discordia lining Passieg de Gràcia. A self-guided audio tour lets you navigate the dream-like environs at your own pace, so be sure to spend some time with the curved wood and two-toned stained glass of each of the doors (from both sides—the glass changes color), the soft scale-like pattern of the softly bowed walls, and the charybdis-esque light fixture that pulls the entire ceiling rippling into its center. Gaudí’s design spans from the incredibly logical to the seemingly insane, including a blue lightwell that passes from deep navy to sky as you descend in order to distribute light more evenly.
If you’re having a problem parting with the cash to get in, just try this logic, heard in line at the box office: if your flight to Barcelona had cost €18 more than you paid, would you still have taken it? Then why miss this gem for the same price? Like the guy who needed convincing, you won’t be disappointed.
Passeig de Gràcia. Walk away from Plaza Catalonia on Passeig de Gràcia. Casa Battló is 2½ blocks down on the left. Tickets available at box office or through TelEntrada. Entrance includes free self-guided audio tour. Tours €17.80, students and BCN cardholders €13. Open daily 9am-8pm.
CASA MILÀ (LA PEDRERA)
Pg. de Gràcia, 92
ARCHITECTURE
93 484 59 00 www.lapedreraeducacio.org
No, this building’s facade didn’t melt in the Barcelona sun, though it has garnered some equally unflattering comparisons. Its nickname “La Pedrera” literally means “the quarry,” and stems from popular jokes, criticism, and caricatures about the house upon its construction 100 years ago. Although wealthy businessman Pere Milà hired Gaudí after being impressed by his Casa Battló a few blocks away, his wife began to loathe her version of Gaudí’s signature style as construction progressed, and eventually refused to let the costly venture proceed. Not one to let the difficult couple have the last word, Gaudí sued the rich pair over fees and gave his winnings from the suit to the poor. Not ones to have Gaudí have the last say, the couple then looked elsewhere to complete their home interior, making La Pedrera the only house designed by Gaudí that isn’t graced by his furniture.
La Pedrera still functions as a home to the rich, famous, and patient—the wait list for an apartment is over 20 years long—as well as offices of the Caixa Catalonia. Many portions of the building are open to the public, including an apartment decorated with period furniture (and, true to the house, not designed by Gaudí) and the main floor. The attic, a space known as Espai Gaudí, boasts a mini-museum to the man himself, including helpful exhibits explaining the science behind his beloved caternary arches and what exactly it means for the architect to be “inspired by natural structures.” Up top, a terrace holds the perfect photo opportunity, whether with the desert-like sculptural outcroppings or the view overlooking Barcelona to Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia. During the summer the terrace lights up both literally and metaphorically with jazz performances on Friday and Saturday nights in a series known as La Nit de Pedrera.
Diagonal. Walk on C. Rosselló toward Passeig de Gràcia and take a right. La Pedrera is on the left at the corner of C. Provença. Free audio tour with entrance. €9.50, students and seniors €5.50. Concerts €12; glass of cava included. Open daily Mar-Oct 9am-8pm; Nov-Feb 9am-6:30pm. Last entry 30min. before close. Concerts last weekend of June and July F-Sa 9pm-midnight.
CASA AMATLLER
Pg. de Gràcia, 41
ARCHITECTURE, CHOCOLATE
93 4487 72 17 www.amatller.com
The severe, rational counterpart to Gaudí’s neighboring acid trip Casa Battló, Casa Amatller was the first of the trio of buildings that has come to be known as the Manzana de la Discordia. In 1898, chocolate mogul Antoni Amattler commissioned Josep Puig i Cadafalch to spruce up the facade of his prominent home along Passieg de Gràcia, and out popped a mix of Catalan, neo-Gothic, Islamic, and Dutch architecture in a strict geometric plane. A carving of Sant Jordi battling the pesky dragon appears over the front door, accompanied by four figures engaged in painting, sculpting, and architecture. Amattler’s peddling in the muses is more than just decorative. Inside the building, find the Amattler Institute of Hispanic Art, including a library accessible to visiting scholars and students of art history. Although the house is currently undergoing renovations, the main floor is still open to visitors by reservation every Friday at noon, though times will change as the work progresses. If you’re in the area and feel like stopping by to take a look at this gem, the lower level gift shop includes a free exhibition of the house and its sculpture and informs you as to exactly how Amattler got so filthy rich, with bars of the company’s delicious chocolate for sale on your way out the door.
Passeig de Gràcia. Walk away from Plaza Catalonia on Passeig de Gràcia. Casa Amatller is two and a half blocks down on the left. Reservation by phone or email required for tour. Tours €10;include chocolate tasting. Guided tours F at noon.
HOSPITAL DE LA SANTA CREU I SANT PAU
C. Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 167
ARCHITECTURE
90 207 66 21 www.santpau.es
Notoriously the most important piece of modernista public architecture, this hospital’s practice is anything but nouveau. Dating back to 1401, the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau is the newest embodiment of the medical practice formerly housed in the Antique Hospital de la Santa Creu in Raval. Wealthy benefactor Pau Gil bequested funds for the building upon his death with strict instructions, including the name appendage. Construction then began in 1902 under the design of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, who in almost Gaudían fashion (only made more appropriate by Gaudí’s anonymous death in the old hospital), died before its completion. His son then saw the work to fruition, giving the hospital 48 large pavilions connected by underground tunnels and bedazzled with luxurious modernist sculptures and paintings. Although the hospital still functions as a world class medical facility today, you won’t need to break a leg to appreciate its beauty. Guided tours are offered daily as a part of Barcelona’s Ruta de Modernisme.
Hospital Sant Pau. Guided tours in English daily at 10am, 11am, noon and 1pm. Information desk open daily 9:30am-1:30pm.
Gràcia
PARC GÜELL
Gràcia
PARK, ARCHITECTURE
Now a mecca for countless tourists and outdoor-loving locals alike, Parc Güell was originally intended for the eyes of a select few. Catalan industrialist, patron of the arts, and all-around man of disgusting wealth Eusebi Güell called upon his right-hand man Antoni Gaudí in 1900 to collaborate on an endeavor completely unlike the previous Güell Palau. The patron envisioned a luxurious community of 60 lavish homes wrapped around an English-inspired, Ebenezer-Howard-esque garden paradise overlooking Barcelona—rich, elite, and pleasantly removed from the mundane realities of the city and its plebian people. Unfortunately for the complex, other members of Barcelona’s upper class weren’t convinced; they weren’t about to abandon the amenities of the city for a cut-off hunk of grass dotted by Gaudí’s seemingly deranged buildings, which that at the time lacked even basic living luxuries. Construction came to a halt in 1914, and in 1918 the area became a park when the Barcelona City Council bought the property.
The park was opened to the public in 1923 and has since been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Buses bring flocks of visitors directly to the Palmetto Gate, a structure flanked by a guardhouse-turned-museum and giftshop. Hand-drummers stationed outside of the facing alcove often provide a dream-like soundtrack for walking through the gingerbread-esque architecture. Those with sturdy shoes lacking a fear of heights often choose to
take the metro and climb the escalators to the nature-clad side entrance. The main attractions of the park (and, consequently, the areas most packed with people) are the brightly-colored mosaics and fountains, like the salamander fountain just across from Palmetto Gate. The pillar forest of the Hall of One Hundred Columns (Teatre Griego), dotted with sculptural pendants by Josep Maria Jujol, musicians, and people peddling fake handbags. The intricate vaults of the hall support Plaça de la Nautralesa above, enclosed by the winding serpentine bench, decked in colorful ceramics, including 21 distinct shades of white that were castoffs from the Casa Milà. If you catch yourself wondering how a ceramic bench can be so comfortable, thank the woman rumored to have sat bare-bottomed in clay for Jujol to provide the form.
Paths to the park’s summit provide amazing views, and one in particular showcases what the park has left to offer: walk to the right when facing the salamander fountain from its base. Follow the wide path and veer right toward the shaded benches and continue climbing uphill to come across the Casa-Museu Gaudí (C. d ‘Olot, 7 93 284 64 46 www.casamuseugaudí.org.) As you continue, the third and last original building of the complex, Juli batllevell ‘s Casa Trías lays in-conspicuously ahead, still privately owned by the Doménech family. El Turo de Les Tres Creus greets visitors at the top of the wide path. This, the park’s highest point with appropriately incredible views, was originally intended to be the residents’ church and now serves instead to mark the end of the ascent.
Although the main areas of the park are regularly full during the dog days of summer, it’s possible to ditch the toddlers and fannypacks by showing up at or before the park’s opening—chances are they won’t turn you away, and even if you have to wait, at least there’s an incredible view.
Lesseps. Walk uphill on Travessera de Dalt and take a left to ride escalators to safety. Bus #24 from Plaça Catalonia stops directly in front of the park. Free. Museum €5.50, students €4.50. Open daily Oct-Mar 10am-6pm; Apr-Sept 10am-8pm.
Montjuïc and Poble Sec
FUNDACIÓ MIRÓ
Parc de Montjuïc
ARCHITECTURE, ART
93 443 94 70 www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org
From the outside in, the Fundació serves as both a shrine to and a celebration of the life and work of Joan Miró, one of both Catalonia and Spain’s most beloved contemporary artists. The bright white angles and curves of the Lego-esque Rationalist building were desigend by Josep Lluís Sert, a close friend of Joan Miró. Since its first opening, the museum’s holdings have expanded beyond Miró’s original collection, with many works by those inspired personally by the artist being donated or acquired in the years after his death. A rotating collection of over 14,000 works now fills the open galleries with views to the grassy exterior and adjacent Sculpture Park. Highlights of the collection include paintings and gargantuine sobreteixims (paintings on tapestry) by Miró, as well as works by Calder, Duchamp, Oldenburg, and Léger. Like much of Barcelona, the foundation refuses to be stuck in its past—although an impressive relic of a previous era, the foundation continues to support the contemporary arts in the present day. Temporary exhibitions have recently included names such as Olafur Eliasson, Pipllotti Rist, and Kiki Smith, while the more experimental Espai 13 houses exhibitions by emerging artists selected by freelance curators. Overwhelmed? You should be. This is one of the few times we recommend paying for the audio tour (€4).
Parallel and then take the funicular to the museum. €8.50, students €6. Audio tour €4. Sculpture garden free. Open July-Sept Tu-Sa 10am-8pm, Su 10am-2:30pm; Oct-June Tu-Sa 10am-7pm.
NATIONAL ART MUSEUM OF CATALONIA
Palau Nacional, Parc de Montjuïc
ARCHITECTURE, ART
93 622 03 76 www.mnac.es
This majestic building perched atop the escalator summit of Montjuïc isn’t quite as royal as it would at first appear. Designed by Enric Catà and Pedro Cendoya for the 1929 International Exhibition, the Palau Nacional has housed the Museu Nacional d’art de Catalonia (MNAC) since 1934. Though the sculpture-framed view over Barcelona from the museum’s front can’t be beat, more treasures await inside. Upon entrance you’ll be dumped into the gargantuan colonnaded Oval Hall, which, although empty, gets your jaw appropriately loose to prepare for its drop in the galleries. The wing to your right houses a collection of Catalan Gothic art, complete with wood-paneled paintings and sculptures Pier 1 would die to duplicate. To your left in the main hall is the wing housing the museum’s impressive collection of Catalan Romanesque art and frescoes, removed from their original settings in the ‘20s and installed in the museum space—a move for the best considering the amount of churches devastated during the Civil War just a decade later. Upstairs are the more modern attractions, with MNAC’s collections of modern art to the left, numismatics (coins, for you non-collectors) to the slight right, and drawings, prints, and posters to the far right. For those intoxicated by the quirky architecture of the city, Catalan modernisme and noucentisme works dot the galleries, from Gaudí’s 1907 “Confidant from the Batlló House” chair to Picasso’s Cubist “Woman in Fur Hat and Collar.” Ranging from 1800-1940, the collection highlights both the shape of Barcelona’s avant-garde movements at the time and paints a pictures as to how they got that way. If art isn’t your thing, check out the currency collection—though beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, this 140,000-piece brief in the history of Catalan coin will hardly have any detractors.
Espanya. Walk through the towers and ride the escalators to the top—the museum is the palace-like structure. Free entrance on first Su of each month. Permanent exhibits €8.50 (valid for two days). Annual subscription (permanent and temporary exhibits) €14. Open Tu-Sa 10am-7pm, Su 10am-2:30pm.
POBLE ESPANYOL
Av. de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 13
ARCHITECTURE, ART
93 508 63 00 www.poble-espanyol.com
One of the few original relics from the 1929 International Exibition still dotting the mountain, the Poble Espanyol first aimed to present a unified Spanish village from its disparate, disjointed parts. Inspired by modernista celebrity Josep Puig i Cadafalch’s original idea, the four architects and artists in charge of its design visited over 1600 villages and towns throughout the country to construct its 117 full-scale buildings, streets, and squares. Though intended simply as a temporary arts pavilion, the outdoor architectural museum was so popular that it was kept open as a shrine (or challenge) to the ideal of a united Spain that never was and never will be. Nowadays, the Poble Espanyol is all of this and more, with artists’ workshops lining the winding roads peddling goods, spectacles during the day, and Terrazza and other parties raging on during the night.
Espanya. Walk through the towers and take a right after climbing the escalators to the top. €8.90, students €6.60. Night entrance €5.50. Open M 9am-8pm, Tu-Th 9am-2am, F 9am-4am, Sa 9am-5am, Su 9am-midnight. Shops open daily in summer 10am-8pm; in winter 10am-6pm.
CASTLE OF MONTJUÏC
Ctra. de Montjuïc, 62-68
ARCHITECTURE
93 256 44 45 www.bcn.catl
Built in 1640 during the revolt against Felipe IV, this former fort and castle has seen its fair share of both Catalan and Spanish struggles. The fortress first saw action in 1641 against Castillian forces and continued its function as a military implement until 1960 when it was ceded to the city and refurbished as a military museum by Francisco Franco. Despite being handed to the city, the fort was controlled by the army until 2007, when its direction was finally handed to the Barcelona City Council. Since then, Barcelona has really enjoyed having a castle—maybe a little too much. A current exhibition named “Barcelona té castell!” (Barcelona has a castle!) explores and celebrates the possibilties for the space, while the castle itself remains, you know, a castle. Incredible views of the harbor and city as well as a moat-turned-beautifully-manicured-garden await those that make the hike.
Espanya. Montjuïc Cablecar on Avenida Miramar. Free. Apr 1-Sept 30 9am-9pm; Oct 1-Mar 31
9am-7pm.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Beaches
Let’s talk platges—that’s beaches in Catalan. For basic information on all of the city beaches, contact the city beach office (932 21 03 48 www.bcn.cat/platges). Tents, motorcycles, soap, loud music, littering, and dogs (though we’ve only seen dogs and trash) are all prohibited. Showers, bathrooms, police, first aid, and basic info are available at each individual beach June-Sept 10am-7pm. Lifeguards are present at all beaches June-Sept daily 10am-7pm; Mar-June Sa-Su 10am-7pm. Lockers are available at the police station during certain hours. For the gym rats and juice heads, almost all beaches have some sort of outdoor workout facility.
PLATJA SAN SEBASTIÀ
Mouth of the Port to C. del Almirall Cervera
BEACH
www.bcn.cat/platges
The first of Barcelona’s public beaches when stumbling out of the Ciutat Vella, Platja San Sebastià, along with Barceloneta, is one of the oldest beaches in the city. Older residents of the Barri Gótic fill the available sand and are joined by a mix of tourists attracted to its convenient location. Like all beaches closer to Las Ramblas and the center of the city, San Sebastià will fill up quickly, especially on weekends. If you’re looking for a place a little more private, the end furthest from Barceloneta—near Torre San Sebastià—promises something at least remotely resembling peace and quiet.