2-3pic. The Gaudi neighborhood public arias
What I looked forward to the most in Barcelona was the Sagrada Familia church, because it is the only cathedral that is still being built today. Gaudi is the most famous architect in Barcelona, but I thought that he was a little crazy because of the odd shapes of his church and complexes. I thought that his buildings look kind of like different sized drip castles. It was also interesting to see the Gothic neighborhood. When we toured of Barcelona we saw lots of Gaudi's work and some of the old roman town of the Gothic neighborhood.
An example of Gaudi's weird building is shown in his famous church the Sagrada Familia. All of the churches of his time looked like Gothic cathedrals, but he made a totally different one. His church looked like a drip castle made of stone. The reason that the church looks so weird, is because he based his design on a upside down model made of string and paper. I know this because I learned it from the Great Course. What made it look really odd was the colorful words all along the cathedral spires. There were different types of fruit scattered on the tips of the steeples. I think that fruit and buildings don't mix. What is really interesting was that Gaudi died about 100 years ago but the cathedral is still being built. We could tell because of the difference in the statues in the front and the back and there is construction equipment all over it. On the front, there are gothic statues; but on the back, all the statues are modern art. I thought the Cathedral was really cool because Gaudi tried something different from any of the churches that I have seen before.
After over indulging in Gaudi's works, we saw a different part of town. An amazing part of Barcelona is the old roman town/gothic neighborhood. The old town Barcino has some interesting shoppes. There were gun shoppes, and knife shops with weapons that shouldn't be there,like AK 47, and samurai swords. There were shops that sold weed, and t- shirts that say really funny things like dick jokes and sexual references. There were also lots of beggars and performers. There were musicians that play music on battered instruments on the streets. We came to a square with a big cathedral. There were about 10 muscular men doing gymnastics on the concrete. It looked like it hurts their knees. When they were done with the performance, they took off their shirts and asked all the woman for tips, which I thought that was pretty smart. Out of all the people, the girls had enjoyed the performance the most. All in all it was a pretty happening place. If you want to try some unknown substances it is either here, or near the SoHo hotel in Athens, Greece.
After our mind opening experience in the Gothic neighborhood, we went to a housing complex, the Park Gruel, designed by Gaudi. This complex, like so many in California, the builders ran out of money, so they stopped mid project about 100 years ago. The builders had completed a few houses and some communal buildings. What shocked me was how different they looked compared to all the other houses in Barcelona. They had really bright colors and weird shapes. They looked like miniature drip castles. It was a real pity that he ran out of money, because they occupied some nice real-estate and it would have been cool to live in one. I have to say, that I couldn't really appreciate the architectural feat, because I was really tired of being a tourist. But now I think that Gaudi did different buildings from other architects of his time and it would be interesting living in one of these candy land houses. But now it a public park( because the builder donated it to the city) that tourist and locals can visit.
After seeing the full Gaudi tour and some older Roman ruins. Seeing the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona was really amazing because Gaudi's unique design. My favorite thing was looking at the t-shirts in the Gothic neighborhood. After seeing most of the attractions in Barcelona I thought that we did not se all that we could in the town and I want to go back some day to finish up.
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