On my trip to Barcelona, on the very last day, just hours before we needed to be at airport, my daughter and I hopped on the metro and went to spend our last moments in Barcelona at Casa Mila, designed as a luxury apartment building that's one of architect Antoni Gaudi's masterpieces, finished in 1912. I'll admit, from the outside the building looks interesting, but a little drab, so we almost didn't take the time to visit......fortunately we had second thoughts and boy am I glad......it's an amazing work of art, definately worth the visit, and one of the highlights of our trip!
I don't know what this mezzanine space was originally, but now it's a very unique cafe....called La Pedrera Cafe. No, I didn't eat there, just popped my head in to check it out, on a previous day when we were walking by. Casa Mila actually has two names, the second one being La Pedrera.
The stunning entry doors......a design sensibility that looks like something you might see newly constructed today.
An entrance to an apartment in the courtyard.....check out that banister!
The interior courtyard which allows all the apartments to have light and air from two sides.
The stunning and very sculptural roof garden, not to be missed! Originally there were no fences, which is a scary thought, guess the residents didn't take their kids up there!
The sculptures on the roof aren't randomly placed, they actually mark the stair wells, and smoke stacks.
If we had payed the admission fee to only visit the roof, it would have been worth it.....
....... a truly special experience......
.........and a great view of Barcelona! That's the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya on Mont Juic hill in the distance, and do you see Santiago Calatrava's communications tower? That is a part of the Olympic Village from the 1992 summer olympics.
Looking in the opposite direction one sees the green hills of Barcelona.......home to Park Guell, another amazing Gaudi masterpiece that I'll be sharing with you too!
And looking towards the ocean and the new part of town, there's architect Jean Nouvel's Agbar Tower, completed in 2005, and marking the gateway to the technological district of the city.
That's it for now, stay tuned for part two, coming soon!
