If Gaudí hadn’t lived for real, the tourist industry would have invented him to sell all those toys, cups and shirts. Without Gaudí, Barcelona would be one of many Spanish city with a cultural heritage similar to the others; still worth visiting but not that outstanding. However, Gaudí did exist and inspired, built and created some of the most marvellous buildings in the city, the biggest of all to be finished in roughly 20 years’ time: the Sagrada Familia.
What impressed me most besides the sheer size of this cathedral was the fact that it is built right now and the way Gaudí sought his inspiration in nature: trees, leaves, fruitstands. Once it will be finished, it will be huge but full of light, overwhelming but welcoming and more than a good reason to come back to Barcelona.
I also went to see the Park Güell which clearly inspired some of the money makers but considering how much dull, plain concrete buildings have been and are still built, it is a pity that not more architects dare to follow Gaudí’s playful, organic and individualistic creations.
La puce, die Welt and everything else 