Barcelona is the capital city of the Catalonia region of northeast Spain, where both Catalan and Spanish are spoken. Sitting on the Mediterranean, this city is known for its beaches but is even more famous for the many creations of the brilliant, quirky architect Antoni Gaudí.
La Sagrada Familia
Perhaps Gaudís most well-known work — certainly the most impressive in terms of scale — is La Sagrada Familia, a colossal church that he began designing in 1883 that is still under construction today. Gaudí's designs were often inspired by nature. The bleak, geometric sculptures on the Passion façade of La Sagrada Familia form an interesting contrast; they were created by modern-day Catalan sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs. Magic squares with magic constant 33 appear in a few places on the Passion façade, presumably referring to the age of Jesus at the time of the Passion.
Park Güell
Elements of this large park, situated on a hill overlooking central Barcelona, were designed by Antoni Gaudí, including an extraordinarily long, serpentine bench on the central terrace and his popular mosaic dragon fountain.
Casa Batlló
The chimneys might be the most recognizable part of this house restored by Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, but the entirety of the house is a wonder to behold, with few straight vertical lines and the most detailed consideration put into everything, even the door handles.
Beaches
Barcelona's four kilometers of beaches (two of the beaches, Bogatell and Nova Icária, are pictured below) might not be naturally occurring (the sand was brought in), but they are quite nice and easy to get to via public transport.
Other Barcelona Photos
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