Last week I spent three days with Mr. Shapero discovering in depth the works of Antoni Gaudí.
On our first day we did the Gaudí masterpieces: his appartment buildings
Casa Batlló and
Casa Milà in the morning, and the fascinating
Sagrada Familia unfinished church in the afternoon.
The next day we went out of town to visit the
Colònia Güell Crypt in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, a little known jewel where Gaudí tried the techniques that he'll use later on in the Sagrada Familia. We were accompanied by the architect Eva Palacios, who's got a big background on Gaudí studies and added up to my explanations with her technical input. Then after a nice lunch by the water Mr. Shapero and me went to the
Park Güell.
We devoted our last morning to Gaudí's minor works. We started with his very first building, the
Casa Vicenç, then took a taxi towards the
Güell Pavilions, and on the way saw the
Teresianes School and the
gate of the Miralles real-state. After the Pavilions, we checked out a
fountain and a pergola he built nearby, in what now is the garden of the Pedralbes Palace (but was formerly part of Güell's real-state). After that we returned to the city center and saw the
Casa Calvet, then decided to walk accross the Old Town to the Güell Palace (I took the opportunity to show him the Palau de la Música Catalana by Domènech i Muntaner, an architect contemporary to Gaudí, the Quatre Gats cafè where Picasso used to hang out and meet other bohemian artists, and the
streetlamps a very young Gaudí designed for the Plaça Reial).
After visiting the basement of the
Güell Palace (the rest of the building is currently being restored, more info in a
previous article I wrote for this blog), we had a fun tapas lunch at the Boqueria market.
In the afternoon my client was interested in buying some music for his art projects, so I took him to a music store and assisted him finding CD's that could be of his interest, and got someone of the Spanish and Catalan music section to give us more ideas (I was here acting as a translator for Mr. Shapero). I also helped him getting some books specialised in the Gaudí works, and took him to the Post Office were all his shopping was sent home by airmail.
After all this we still had some time left, and he said he'd love to hear some street-musicians. So I took him back to the Gothic Quarter, were I guided him around the spots where I know it's easy to find them. We had a nice time listening to their music and walking around the medieval alleys and squares. I loved doing that! It was my first ever "street-musician hunting" tour!
