Welcome Apartments

Gaudi’s Barcelona, La Pedrera

On the sumptuous Barcelonese avenue of Passeig de Gracia, itself a kind of outdoor museum dedicated to modernista architecture, is one of Antoni Gaudi’s most instantly recognizable pieces of work, La Pedrera.

Built between 1906 and 1910 for the prestigious Milà family, the exoskeletal façade of the building makes an immediate impression. The balconies feature organic shapes and Art Nouveau-style wrought-iron grilles.

Look higher up and you can see a domed roof with what look like statues of warriors (they are in fact chimneys) peering over the edge.

Inside the building in the hall are tripped out frescoes on the ceiling, supported by bone-like pillars. Beyond the hall is the open-air courtyard, with the sky above. There is an exhibition on higher floors showing the building’s apartments as they would originally have been, plus a showcase of Gaudi’s manuscripts, highlighting the various stages in his work.

On the roof is a marvelous labyrinth of platforms and terraces with panoramic views of Barcelona. As you arrive in the open air on the highest battlements of La Pedrera it is like seeing the city as the man himself perceived it.

Our Quatre Gats and Triomf Series Apartment Style Hotels plus our Passeig De Gracia Accommodation are all located in close proximity to this amazing masterpiece. As always we will be glad to help you with any information about Gaudi’s Las Pedrera and other tourist attractions in Barcelona and will do all to ensure that you have a great stay with Welcome Apartments and a memorable time in Barcelona.

You can visit La Pedrera between the hours of 10 AM – 8 PM. A small fee is charged.

Gaudi’s Barcelona, Parc Guell

Parc Guell is located in foothills just above the charming barrio of Gracia. It was built between 1900 and 1914 as an aristocratic city-garden with family residences, including the arhitect’s own house.

That architect went by the name of Andoni Gaudi. This park is his personalized collage of modernist architecture and nature. It is a glimpse into the psyche of the man who dreamed the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. It is also still essentially a park, so you can enjoy a leisurely outdoor stroll with excellent views of the city of Barcelona.

The stone pavillions at the gateway to the park are decorated with Gaudi’s signature ‘trencadis’- colourful and irregular ceramic montages- and culminate in impressive domed ceilings.

A stairway like a path fashioned into a coral reef leads up to a grandiose colonnade hall with 86 columns, on top of which is the park’s main square. Once up in the square you can see all the way to the sea and many path tentacles lead into more intimate recesses of the park.

With its organic shapes, smooth, pebble like stone and lush flora Gaudi’s Parc Guell is like Atlantis transformed by fish into a scaly, sub-aquatic kingdom. In summertime the park is open 10 AM- 9 PM.

As always we will be glad to help you with any information about Gaudi’s Parc Guell and other tourist attractions in Barcelona and will be happy to fit you and your guests into one of our great Barcelona Hotels/ Accomodations. We will do all to ensure that you have a great stay with Welcome Apartments and a memorable time in Barcelona.

Gaudi’s Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia Cathedral

The architect Andoni Gaudi’s most celebrated work, the Sagrada Familia, or ‘Sacred Family’, is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its golden spires can be seen from any spot in the upper reaches of the city, indeed, more than any other this building symbolizes Barcelona. This didn’t stop one particularly bright friend of mine (who’s lived in Barcelona for three years) calling it, ‘Gandhi’s Cathedral’.

The Nativity Façade is the only part of the temple whose construction was directly organised by Gaudi himself. It features four bell towers with a cylindrical structure- the tallest two reach a height of 107 metres.

The central spire of the entrance portico is decorated with a scultpure of a cypress tree and doves, symbolizing purity. Stone blinds in the bell tower create an acoustic diffusion of the tubular bells, as enviisioned by Gaudi.

Each of the planned twelve towers of the Cathedral are dedicated to an apsostle. The word ‘Sanctus’ appears nine times in different colours on each bell tower, yellow signifies the Holy Father, red the Holy Son and orange the Holy spirit.

The pinnacles culimate in stars in the shape of a crown and the words ‘Hosanna’ and ‘Excelsius’ below. The friezes, depicting themes such as the Adoration of the Three Kings and the Adoration of the Shepherds, offer breathtakingly intricate detail and workmanship.

Anyone, and I mean, anyone visiting Barcelona will be blown away by this most untypical of celestial visions, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. And remember it is still under construction, so you can come back and see it develop each year.

In summertime you can visit the cathedral between nine in the morning and eight at night.

Fees:
Single 8€
Group 5€
Student 5€

As always we will be glad to help you with any information about Gaudi’s Sagradia Familia and other tourist attractions in Barcelona and will be happy to fit you and your guests into one of our great Barcelona Hotels/ Accomodations. We will do all to ensure that you have a great stay with Welcome Apartments and a memorable time in Barcelona. Our accommodations closest to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral are our Quatre Gates Series and the Passeig De Gracia.