Barcelona and Madrid by tarabrodiedesign

Barcelona & madrid

contents

Food and Drinks

Salvador Dalí Theatre Museum

Montjuïc

Barcelona

La Rambla

Castell de Montjuïc

The Apartment

Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

La Sagrada Familia

Modernisme Architecture

Park Güell

Casa Lleó Morera

Casa Milà/La Pedrera

Palau Ramon Montaner

Casa Amatller

Casa Thomas

Casa Batlló

Casa Serra

Mercat de la Boqueria

Casa Comalat

Casa Calvet

Casa de les Punxes

Palau de la Música Catalana

Rambla de Catalunya

Barri Gòtic/Gothic Quarter

The Beach at El Poblenou

La Catedral

Casa Vicens

Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar

Gràcia

Plaça de Sant Jaume

Jewish Quarter/El Call

Madrid

Roman Columns

The Hotel

Basilica de la Mercè

Plaza de la Puerta del Sol

Basilica de Sants Just i Pastor

Plaça de Sant Just

Plaza Mayor

Museu Picasso

Basílica de San Miguel

Plaza de la Villa

Catedral de la Almudena

Universitat de Barcelona

Plaza de la Armería

Església de Sant Pau del Camp

Palacio Real

Palau Güell

Flamenco

Parc de la Ciutadella

Basílica de San Francisco El Grande

El Born Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria

Arc de Triomf

The Bear and the Strawberry Tree

Barcelona

On our first day in Barcelona, we explored the streets, admiring the ornate buildings which reminded us of Paris. Most of the streets look very similar with the same style buildings being repeated along with wide open roads. The buildings form blocks with courtyards in the middle of each in a gridded pattern. One of the most famous streets, La Rambla, is a hub for tourism. Stalls selling sourvenirs, ice cream and tapas eats line both sides of this busy walkway. We couldn’t help but walk along La Rambla many times. It joins one end of the city to the other, linking the Gothic Quarter too. 6

La Rambla

The view from our apartment

the apartment

la Sagrada Familia

The building where our apartment was, like many others, had a heavy iron door which we struggled to open at first. We walked in to find a tiny, old style lift with doors you have to manually open. There was also a beautiful winding staircase, which we sometimes had to take if the lift got stuck. Our apartment was spacious with two bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen and multiple seating areas. My favourite part was the view out onto the courtyard area. This made it sink in that we were finally here. Each day we sat out on the balcony seeing what life is like for people living in this city. 8

Facades

Gaudí’s most famous creation, La Sagrada Familia, is a huge church which began being built in 1882 and is still unfinished, but is believed to be completed in 2030. Each facade of the building is completely different in style, with intricate details everywhere you look. A couple of examples include Gaudí’s head replacing Joseph’s on a statue outside the Nativity facade or the stained glass windows inside, which are cool colours on one side and warm on the other, representing the cycle of the sun rising and setting. It’s the tallest building in Barcelona and biggest church in the world. 10

Inside

park güell

m o o R e l ty s o p y The H

and Dragon Staircase Starting as an attempt to expand the overcrowded city, Park Güell was originally a disaster. Only three plots of land were sold, so instead Gaudí’s creation became a park for everyone to enjoy. Park Güell is up quite high in the mountains with about four buildings and the cave-like Hypostyle Room. There’s a long, curving, ergonomic bench, decorated with mosaic tiles, as well as a gingerbread house inspired building and the blue and white Bavaria building. Down the Dragon Staircase is a salamander statue and small waterfall. The elephant shaped roundabout is another quirky element. 14

casa milà / la pedrera

casa batllÓ

casa amatller

Another building designed by Gaudí, Casa Milà, goes to show that although there is a common theme between all of Gaudí’s work, each are all very unique. Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera, has been highly influenced by nature seen through the organic curved structure, mimicing a cliff face and waves. Casa Amatller, which is right beside Casa Batlló, was previously a chocolate factory. Designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, another Modernist architect, the building takes more of a blocky approach, with dragon and knight motifs. 16

Gaudí rarely uses straight lines in his creations. Casa Batlló is another example of this. This whimsical design, takes inspiration from the marine world through the blue, purple and green colour palette. The tiles covering the walls on the inside glisten like the sea, perfectly positioned within the light well. This residential building has many rooms within, as well as a back terrace and roof terrace. There are constantly changing details as you move from room to room, yet there’s always a consistent theme throughout. Grab a glass of Champagne and people watch from the windows. 18

k c a b e h Tcade fa

Inside

mercat de la boqueria

palau de la música catalana

casa calvet Mercat de la Boqueria is just off La Rambla and is a huge market selling seafood, cheese, ham and so much more. There is plenty of ready made snacks you can grab and eat while you wander around the stalls or you can also eat at small restaurants which are also within the bustling market. Pictured above was a huge lolly stall, with so many unusual options. Casa Calvet, Gaudí’s most normal building, was created in 1900 and inspired by the Baroque style. Being around the corner from the apartment, this was definitely worth a visit and was nice to explore the beautiful area. 20

A concert hall with 2146 seats, Palau de la Música Catalana, is a beautiful, highly decorated creation by Domènech i Montaner and Catalan artisans of the time. You can spend ages here, just making sure that you’ve seen every little detail. There is a 1000kg stained glass skylight in the centre of the ceiling which goes inward in the centre to form a sort of teardrop shape. While we sat in the seats on the second level, the organ played a haunting tune. Imagine seeing a show here. It is said that the outside of the building is impossible to photograph, due to the narrow street. 22

Outside

Barri gòtic / gothic quarter

la catedral

The original city of Barcelona, now the Gothic Quarter, takes you back to Roman times. There’s a mix of Catalan Gothic chuches and cobblestone walkways, where you can find hidden treasures and places to eat that almost seem hidden away from the rest of the city. La Catedral dates back to 1298 and Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, Basilica de Santa Maria del Pi, Basilica de Sants Just i Pastor and Basilica de la Mercè show the area’s age. Amongst these are 2000 year old Roman columns, Plaça de Sant Jaume’s government buildings and the even narrower streets of the Jewish Quarter. 24

Basilica de santa maria del mar

plaça de sant jaume

Basilica de sants just i pastor

Jewish Quarter /El Call

2,000 year old Roman columns

Pla a de Sant Just Ç

Basilica de la mercè

museu picasso

Within the Gothic Quarter lie five medieval palaces which make up the Museu Picasso. The gallery focuses on 3500 of Picasso’s earlier works, which are vastly different to his iconic Cubist style. It shows Picasso’s versatility which includes photographic-like paintings. The one above, ‘First Communion’ was painted by a 15 year old Picasso. The fabrics jump out from the painting due to them looking extremely realistic. You could spend ages seeing all of the artworks and marvelling at the architecture of the palaces, a musuem which Picasso himself proposed the creation of. 30

el Born

El Born is just off the Gothic Quarter and is lined with tapas bars. At the end of the main street is the Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria. Previously a market, in 2001 excavations found a whole Roman city lay beneath. You can walk around to get an elevated view of the steets and learn more about this surprising find. Archeologists are still working on uncovering more about these ruins. We didn’t know what to expect until we went inside and found that our jaws dropped with what we discovered inside the shell of a modern market building.

Born Centre de Cultura i Memoria 31

universitat de Barcelona

The Universitat de Barcelona is grand but also eerily quiet as we entered, surrounded by arches and bronze statues. Then through the doors we found ourselves in the courtyard area which was very peaceful. Then to the main hall we discovered a more royal feel with a wide staircase, tapestries and Renaissance style paintings. We weren’t able to go further through, but imagine the feeling of walking through each day if you were a student here. After, we had a quick visit to the Romanesque style Església de Sant Pau del Camp, a small church which was rebuilt in about the 11th century. 32

església de sant pau del camp 33

palau güell

A more haunting style compared to Gaudí’s other works, Palau Güell is a huge mansion built for the Güell family. We took a self guided tour through the building, learning so much about the many rooms and features. From the stables to the music room, there is a constant opulence with gold and mahogany throughout. My favourite was when we finally made our way to the rooftop terrace. It was a challenge to walk across the wavy, uneven ground, but the 360º view was breathtaking. The mosaic chimney pots on the rooftop are quite a contrast to the rest of the mansion. 34

Rooftop terrace

parc de la ciutadella

what we ate and drank

a n a l a t a C Crema Sangria

The Parc de la Ciutadella is a big park filled with many paths and greenery. We walked to a small deck area beside the pond to eat lunch and enjoy the surroundings. People were rowing boats in the pond and we spotted many types of water birds. Then over to the 19th century waterfall fountain, we climbed to the top to see the view from a different perspective. This is very elegant to look at with the mix of the turquoise water and stone coloured fountain. We walked out of the park to find a wide open walkway leading to the Arc de Triomf, which was built for the 1888 Universal Exposition. 38

f m o i r T e d Arc

Dinner at Amar

salvador dalí theatre museum

An hour and a half drive took us to the town of Figueres where we visited the Salvador Dalí Theatre Museum. It’s in a small town not too far from the French border. The museum itself was filled with Dalí’s unusual art which forms unique installations. There were heaps to see as each room curves around a central courtyard area with another one of Dalí’s creations, all of which encourages you to think. The style of the bedroom in the above photos were most familiar to us, however, there were plenty of artworks in a range of styles that we didn’t know much about before visiting. 40

montjuïc & castell de montjuïc

View from the cast le

Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya The area of Montjuïc is beside the port and offers again a different feel to the rest of Barcelona. We walked along Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina towards the Magic Fountain (which has been turned off during the drought season) and past the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. Here you can take a steep, winding walk up or down the mountain through peaceful streets and flower gardens. However, we needed to get a cable car to take us to the peak of the mountain where we explored Castell de Montjuïc, a fortress overlooking the city on one side and the Mediterranean on the other. 42

Castell de Montjuic 43

modernisme / art nouveau

We went on a walk to see these Modernisme style buildings, the same style as Gaudí. Modernisme, also known as Art Nouveau, takes inspiration from nature seen through its colours and motifs. While on this walk we saw Rambla de Catalunya, a long street lined with places to eat and drink. From left to right. Page 1: Casa Lleó Morera (1&2), Palau Ramon Montaner, Casa Thomas. Page 2: Casa Serra, Casa Comalat, Casa de les Punxes, Rambla de Catalunya. 44

Rambla de Catalun ya

the Beach at el poblenou

casa vicens

Casa Vicens was Gaudí’s first project, located in the Gràcia area. It has a very peaceful, summery feeling with flowing water features and floral motifs, despite being a more angular structure, which is quite different for Gaudí. Each room had something new to offer. We were amazed at the realness of the leaf pattern in the ceiling of one room and loved the patterns of the various ceramic tiles both inside and outside the building. The house also displayed models of the original land compared to the reduced land that the house lies on today due to developing the area around. 46

gràcia

e c a r r te p to f o o r e Th

Models of the original building vs. now We had a small walk around the Gràcia area which is filled with cute boutique shops and a lot of greenery amongst the narrow streets. We visited some squares during our walk including Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia and Plaça del Sol as seen in the bottom two photos. Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia has an iconic clock tower in the centre, Torre del Rellotge, created by Antoni Rovira i Trias in 1864. Plaça del Sol is now a square filled with bars and restaurants but was originally the place of executions in 1870 and was also used to hold an air raid shelter during the civil war. 50

madrid

We arrived in Madrid after catching the fast train from Barcelona. Madrid has narrower streets lined with places to eat. The streets can get quite hilly, yet there are areas with big open squares and grand buildings. Our hotel was located on one of the main roads not far from Plaza de la Puerta del Sol. Our small room had a view onto the courtyard area which was actually the lobby area of the hotel. We also found the ruins of the original Almudena Church. Dad stood next to the statue of a man who is looking at the ruins. We also enjoyed our bowl of big and small pieces of bread. 52

The hotel

plaza de la puerta del sol

The Bear andrethee Strawberry T

Plaza de la Puerta del Sol is a huge, open and very busy square lined with elegant buildings. The central location of the square means that it leads off to many other streets. There are a few popular statues in the square, the statue of King Charles III of Spain on horseback and the iconic Bear and the Strawberry Tree (El Oso y el Madroño). Everyone that visits Madrid wants to get their photo with the statue which is a symbol from Madrid’s coat of arms since 1222 and is seen all around the city. It symbolises the fertile soil of Madrid through the bear and the tree symbolises aristocracy. 54

plaza mayor

Plaza Mayor is the main square of Madrid where many historical events have been held. The cobblestone ground and orange coloured surrounding buildings make you feel like royalty, which was revealed to us when we walked in through an arch. We explored the surrounding shops which line the edges of the square and the little streets that lead off at each corner. This included finding a coin shop with coins from all around the world and we also ate the iconic calamari rolls while enjoying the atmosphere. Despite the size of the square, it can get very crowded later in the day. 56

Calamari Rolls 57

Basílica de san miguel

We came across the Basílica Pontificia de San Miguel on our way to Plaza de la Villa, which is a Baroque style church that was constructed in 1745. We discovered how ornate it was when we walked inside to see the Renaissance style frescoes and gold detailing. Although it is small, it was still just as breathtaking. It was interesting to see how the style of the churches vary throughout Madrid, but are also very different to the common Catalan Gothic style we saw in Barcelona. We also took some time to enjoy the location outside the church which was very quiet, peaceful and sunny. 58

plaza de la villa

Plaza de la Villa is a pretty, more secluded square with a colourful flower garden around a statue in the centre. With the surrounding buildings in 17th century Madrid style Baroque architecture, consisting of brick, stone and wrought iron, this was seat of Madrid’s government during the middle ages and includes the former town hall. This would be a peaceful place to sit and read a book, I felt like I could stay here and look around for ages. Squares in Barcelona tend to be on the side of streets, but here they are harder to notice from the outside, as they are usually surrounded by grand buildings. 59

catedral de la almudena

plaza de la armería

Back of the cathedral

After making our way across a busy street, we got to the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena, which is a cathedral opposite the Palacio Real, located on the Plaza de la Armería. The city’s signature cathedral (which is often compared to Notre Dame and St Peter’s Basilica) is grand from the outside and just as impressive on the inside. Although the inside is not as highly decorated as some of the other churches we visited, people flock to the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena. We walked around admiring the scale of the interior, which feels elegant and strong. 60

View from the Plaza

The Plaza de la Armería is a large, open square between the Catedral de la Almudena and Palacio Real. Often busy with people trying to get a view of both famous Madrid monuments, the Plaza de la Armería feels completely different to the narrower, hilly streets of the city. Making our way to the far side of the square, we realised we were slightly elevated and noticed when we looked over the edge that we could see a view of the big El Retiro park below and the city too. We didn’t get a chance to explore the park which is apparently a must see with a large lake and the Crystal Palace. 61

palacio real

Palacio Real is the Royal Palace of Madrid. It was amazing to walk through and is still used for royal engagements, so we weren’t allowed to take photos of many of the rooms. We saw the King and Queen’s rooms, banquet hall and a lot of artefacts on display such as silverware and musical instruments. It was amazing to see how differently each room was decorated. It consists of 3418 rooms in a Baroque style, decorated with the help of famous artists from around the world. A self guided tour gave us so much information as we made our way through the extravagant rooms. 62

Flamenco Basílica de san francisco el grande

We watched a small flamenco show one night which lasted for an hour and came with drinks you could order while sitting at small tables in front of the stage. It was an exciting and emotional mix of three dancers, two singers and one man playing the guitar. It was the perfect showcase for us to see what flamenco was about. It was very impressive to see the talent and dedication the performers have for this traditional Spanish art. It was recommended to us that the best flamenco shows are the ones that don’t come with a meal, that way you know the performance will be the standout. 64

Our final stop was to the Basílica de San Francisco El Grande. In a Baroque style and being one of Madrid’s grandest churches, the standout of the interior is the huge frescoed dome of the ceiling. It has a height of 56m and diameter of 33m. The dome is the largest in Spain and fourth largest in the world. The interior also features extravagant stained glass windows. The church also has murals by Goya and murals and many paintings by Velasquez. This was another example highlighting Madrid’s grand and royal style, through the scale and opulence of the city’s monuments. 65

Between the 17th September and 1st October 2023, my parents and I went on a holiday visiting Barcelona and Madrid. This was very exciting to travel to a country we hadn’t been to before and it was my second time to Europe. This was probably the most rewarding holiday we have been on. We learnt so much about all the places we visited, learnt so much about the culture and found inspiration in everything. What particularly stood out was the unique style of the architecture, especially the work of Gaudí. It was a style we had never really experienced before. I wanted to create somewhere where I could display all of the photos I took across the holiday, in one place so they can be viewed together. I have created a sort of scrapbook, photo album design. This allows me to flick through to any location and see all the photos I took from that location in the one place, yet the scrapbook element with the handwritten notes and mix match of background colours on each page also adds a playfulness and sense of creativity to be able to tailor a different design to each individual page, based on the content of each page. I think this complements Spain’s style really well. Having something to look back on and be able to relive was important to me. Therefore, I also added descriptions of each place, recounting any facts I learnt about. I felt so excited when arriving home to tell everyone about my holiday and through this I hope people can see why Spain is worth visiting. Hopefully this can teach and inspire other people too.

Tara Brodie