Antoni Gaudi is a famous Catalan architect that I dream could have created sites in every town or at least mine. His swirling, colorful, unique buildings remind me of mythical dragons and the stuff of fairytales. 

After an outrageous breakfast at an instagram-worthy cafe (Eat my trip) we headed off to Gaudi’s most famous cathedral, that he worked on for 43 years before he was killed in a tram accident. Sagrada Família stunned me with beauty. Gaudi was a lover of nature as I am and claimed she was his muse. 

The main floor soared to crazy heights and looked like a forest with tree trunks holding up the ceiling with branches and colorful stained glass that mimic the leaves and sky. 

We took an elevator up into one of the spires to spectacular views and some close up scenes of the exterior design with more nature inspired clumps of grapes and berries cascading or perched on impossibly tall spires. We walked down a bunch of steps inside a spiral resembling a shell. 

The place was breathtaking. We stayed a few hours before tearing ourselves away to catch a taxi to Park Guell.

Gaudi was designing this 30 acre garden as a ritzy housing development when World War I broke out so it did not get finished. Only two homes out of sixty were finished. His work is so playful, it made me laugh out loud with beautiful mosaic benches, animal heads poking out unexpectedly, and fairytale buildings and views out to the sea. And bonus…I finally saw the wild parakeets that fly around Barcelona.

We walked and walked creating blisters on my feet. But we high-tailed it back to the hostal for a quick rest before an evening piano concert at another amazing building. 

We had tickets to see Alexandre Tharaud at Palau de la Musica concert hall. He played Bach and Ravel in an atmosphere so magical that I just had to keep remarking how lucky I am. The hall was full of imagination, flying horses, mosaics, a stained glass ceiling that changed color, and figures protruding from the stage walls like ghosts. This was not Gaudi’s work but could have been. And the pianist was flawless. His hands moved so quickly and gracefully through cascading waterfalls up and down the keys that it made me teary. 

It’s been quite the day. I’m exhausted and humbled by humans that create such beauty and even more so because I am getting to partake of it.