One of the joys of wandering the streets of Barcelona is to suddenly stumble upon gorgeous art nouveau buildings sitting smack in the middle of nondescript shop fronts. The Antigua Casa Figueras is one such gem. Located halfway down the Rambla, this former pasta factory was built in 1820 and decorated by modernist artist Antoni Ros i Guell in…
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The folklore is reason enough to visit the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat near Barcelona. Like the fantastic claims of this being the ‘Castle of Munsalvaesche’ where the Holy Grail is believed to be hidden! Or those of miraclulous occurences in 890 AD, that led shepherd boys to the ‘La Moreneta’ (the little dark…
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The scaffolding covered structure that towered over us was underwhelming. Not that I had expected much else. As mentioned before, I had never been a Gaudi fan. But again, delving into the symbolism inherent in every stone and more importantly, the principles of construction, the designer in me could not help but be drawn into the…
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I had always thought Antoni Gaudi’s buildings were…well gaudy! My minimalist aesthetics were offended by all that ornamentation, and I never really paid much attention to his work. But as soon as I stepped inside this iconic building in Barcelona, I knew I had been so mistaken. About Gaudi and about modernist architecture. One of…
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