Barcelona is possibly best known for its architecture,
especially the buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi and other artists associated
with the late 19^th and early 20^th century movement known
in Catalonia as Modernisme and by other names like Art Nouveau and Jugenstil in
France and Germany . The style is characterized by individualism and artistry in
architecture. Antoni Gaudi is the best-known architect of Modernisme, but Luis
Domenech I Montaner comes in a close second in influence. Most of their
Barcelona buildings together constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site
designation.

Many of Gaudi’s creations can be toured, and I visited most
of them on my 2002 trip to Barcelona. Several are interesting enough that I
would have returned to them again, especially Sagrada Familia Cathedral, to
which I’ve devoted a separate entry. There’s a big difference between visiting
Barcelona in November and visiting Barcelona in July. In summer everything is
mobbed! For example, I had no wait to
see the very interesting Casa Mila the first time I was in town. The line for
it on this trip, though, was all the way down the block. Oh well, I thought, I
don’t have to see the things I saw already again. I did try to visit Gaudi’s
Palau Guell, one of his creations I didn’t get to on my first visit, but all
tickets for the day were already sold out by the time I arrived.

The first new site for me was Domenech I Montaner’s
well-known complex, the Hospital de Sant Pau, a huge site not far from Sagarda
Familia consisting of harmonious low-rise hospital buildings from the beginning
of the twentieth century in a highly-ornamented style.

Park Guell is another of Gaudi’s most famous works. The site
is a landscaped park with several buildings Gaudi designed and some sloped
walkways leading up to a large terrace that provides a good view of the city.
There are few straight lines in Gaudi’s creations and the benches around the
terrace curve and twist, most of them covered in unusual ceramic patterns. When
I went to Parc Guell in 2002 it was a rather gray day in November but I had the
place mostly to myself. This hot sunny July day, though, the popular place was mobbed
with tourists.