Waiting for the bus. There is just the three of us and another guide in training.
You will notice as you walk around the city that buildings on corners have a flat edge - this is known as a 'chamfered corner'. It means that crossroads have a more open feel and there is room on street corners for terraces - this helps to give Barcelona its sociable and communal atmosphere.
Actually, the area of Paseo de Gracia between Valencia & Aragó is called the Block of Disaccord. When the city expanded past the old city limits, all the richest Barcelonés, and the top catalan architects of the day, competed to build the best and most intricate buildings. In the end they were left with a street full of some of the most extraordinary examples of Catalan Modernism architecture ever produced.
This building, the Casa Amatller by Puig i Cadafalch, a contemporary of Gaudí, which combines the neo-Gothic style with a ridged façade inspired by houses in the Netherlands, is part of the block known as the “mansana de la discòrdia” of Barcelona.
The original building was constructed by Antoni Robert in 1875, and in 1898 the Amatller family commissioned the Catalan architect and politician Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956) to refurbish the building.
I digres, as this is the Gaudi tour.
Antoni Gaudi (25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Spanish Catalan architect fromReus and the best known practitioner ofCatalan Modernismn. Gaudí's works reflect an individualized and distinctive style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.
Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. Gaudí considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass,wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.
The Casa Batllo (the middle building) is a modification of an existing building. It was rebuilt from the ground up by Gaudí commissioned by the industrialist Josep Batlló in 1904-1906 . One of Gaudí's largest and most striking works is the Casa Batlló (1904–1906). Gaudí focused on the facade, the main floor, the patio and the roof, and built a fifth floor for the staff. For this project he was assisted by his aides Domènec Sugrañes, Joan Rubió and Josep Canaleta. The facade is of Montjuïc sandstone cut to create warped ruled surfaces; the columns are bone-shaped with vegetable decoration. Gaudí kept the rectangular shape of the old building's balconies—with iron railings in the shape of masks—giving the rest of the facade an ascending undulating form. He also faced the facade with ceramic fragments of various colours ("trencadís"), which Gaudí obtained from the waste material of the Pelegrí glass works. T 
Gaudí wanted the roof to represent the dragon of St George's legend: the roof of Casa Battló is shaped like the back of a monster with large, shiny scales. It consists of ceramic tiles and glazed tiles on double attics. On the left the roof is limited by a tower with a four arm cross. Behind this, there are plastic shaped ventilation shafts and chimneys. The facade is dotted with flowers. The balcony just below the roof in the center represents the "rose" or the lady saved from the dragon by Saint George.
In the window openings are pillars in the form of bones.
The balconies resemble masks or possibly skulls.
The tles in the atrium courtyard gradually go from light blue at the bottom to dark blue at the top. Gaudie used the skylight to add light all the way to the bottom. The light blue at the bottom helped make the bottom even lighter.
Listenening to Gaudi's explanations of his ornate roof strucftures. He thought normal roofs unsightly with air vents and chimney's, so he masked his with fanciful but highly efficient substitutions.
Gaudi designed furniture. Very ergonomic
Again the use of ceramic and glass shards
No straight lines
The center windows actually raise up to created an open balcony. The lady of the house used to sit here in all her finery watching the passers-by on the street and of course "being seen".
The only fireplace in the apartment
The small holes (you can see two of them open) at the bottom of the window was for ventilation. They can be slid open. There was a purpose for every element of his designs.
The curving banister to resemble waves
From 1915 Gaudí devoted himself almost exclusively to his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família, a synthesis of his architectural evolution. After completion of the crypt and the apse, still in Gothic style, the rest of the church is conceived in an organic style, imitating natural shapes with their abundance of ruled surfaces. He intended the interior to resemble a forest, with inclined columns like branching trees, helicoidal in form, creating a simple but sturdy structure. Gaudí applied all of his previous experimental findings in this project, from works such as the Park Güell and the crypt of the Colònia Güell, creating a church that is at once structurally perfect, harmonious and aesthetically satisfying.
When completed it will have eighteen towers: four at each side making a total of twelve for the apostles, four on the transept invoking the gospels and one on the apse dedicated to the Virgin, plus the central tower in honour of Jesus, which will reach 170 metres (560 ft) in height.
Although not yet complete, the basilicca was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI on November 7, 2010. The roof was completed in 2000 and a termporary door was installed before consecration. You cannot consecrate a church without a roof or doors. I did not know this.
Gaudi was influenced by the gothic architecture, but felt it was imperfect. He said "gothic art is imperfect, only half resolved; it is a style created by the compasses, a formulaic industrial repetition. Its stability depends on constant propping up by the buttresses: it is a defective body held up on crutches. (...) The proof that Gothic works are of deficient plasticity is that they produce their greatest emotional effect when they are mutilated, covered in ivy and lit by the moon".
You will find no flying buttresses on this Church.
This wall of the structure is the one Gaudi worked on his entire life, the last year's dedicated to this building alone.
The Shepherds
The Wisemen
The second entrance shows in the center the Roman ssoldiers
The kiss of Judas; the block of numbers next to the sculpture adds up to 33. No matter how you add it, across, up or down or diagonally, it always adds up to Jesus' age at crucifixion
The flagellation
The Crucifixion
The Nave
The columns like trees straight and tall with a knot which then branches up to the leaves depicted at the top. The columns are not all the same size and circumference. They are made from diffeerent materials designed and based on the load they must bear.
The ceiling - made of among other materials Murano glass from Venus Italy.
Looking towatrds the entrance of the basilica
The stained glass - reds, yellows and oranges on one side
The windows go nearly to the floor (which adds more light to the building. This is made possible through Gaudi's use of the parabolic arch throughout the structure.
blues and greens on the other
"On 7 June 1926, Gaudí was taking his daily walk to the Sant Felip Neri church for his habitual prayer and confession. While walking along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes between Girona and Bailén streets, he was struck by a passing tram and lost consciousness. Assumed to be a beggar because of his lack of identity documents and shabby clothing, the unconscious Gaudí did not receive immediate aid. Eventually a police officer transported him in a taxi to the Santa Creu Hospital, where he received rudimentary care. By the time that the chaplain of the Sagrada Família, Mosén Gil Parés, recognised him on the following day, Gaudí's condition had deteriorated too severely to benefit from additional treatment. Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 at the age of 73 and was buried two days later. A large crowd gathered to bid farewell to him in the chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the crypt of the Sagrada Família.
His gravestone bears this inscription:
The crypt where Gaudi is buried.
The spiral staircase
The four sides of the Church. Three will have entrances and one will be the back of the nave. The areas colored brown are finished. The areas colored white are under construction and yet to be completed. With current donations, it is expected that the Church will be completed in 2026 on the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death.
This side entrance the only side of the church completed before Gaudi's death represents the birth of Christ
This side entrance just being completed represents the crucifixion of Christ
This front entrance yet to be completed will represent the resurrection of Christ.
The rear of the nave and will have no entrance
Another of Gaudí's major projects and one of his most admired works is the Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera (1906–1910), commissioned by Pere Milà i Camps. Gaudí designed the house around two large, curved courtyards, with a structure of stone, brick and cast-iron columns and steel beams. The facade is built of limestone from Vilafranca del Penedès, apart from the upper level, which is covered in white tiles, evoking a snowy mountain. It has a total of five floors, plus a loft made entirely of catenary arches, as well as two large interior courtyards, one circular and one oval. Notable features are the staircases to the roof, topped with the four-armed cross, and the chimneys, covered in ceramics and with shapes that suggest mediaeval helmets. The interior decoration was carried out by Josep Maria Jujol and the painters Iu Pascual, Xavier Nogués and Aleix Clapés. 
Inner courtyard
The roof
air vents and chimney's
ceramic shards
If you stand in front of and look through the arch, the Sagrada Familia is perfectly framed.
air vents made of broken champagne bottles.
The loft made entirely of catenary arches,
Model
A technique used by Gaudi to visualize the way a building would look. Hang chains of varying lengths. He would then take a picture and turn it upside down. In this case a mirror was used to show how it would look if inverted. Quite clever.
Thingss of nature that he used for inspiration
The apartment as it would have looked in the early 1900's
Servants area - Mending, irongin
kitchen
servants dining
pantry
storage room
bath
bedroom
office
A full day of Gaudi.
It is said that when Gaudi graduated from architect school, his instructors claimed that he was either a genius or mad. I think genius, but in either case, what imagination and wonderful structures he created.
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