What do you think it means to be immortal? Living forever? Besides, how many people want that? But how about having your name associated with a city? Doesn’t it sound nice that when his name is mentioned, you think of him, and when yours is mentioned, his name comes to mind? Barcelona and Gaudi… These two names are so identified that it is difficult to imagine Barcelona without Gaudi. Before leaving this world, the famous architect left a mark on every corner of his city, literally putting a huge signature on it. Here are a few of them… “A house shaped like a sea represents the waves on a stormy day,” said Salvador Dali while talking about it… Casa Batllo (House of Bones) When you stand in front of it, Casa Batllo is the house in fairy tales where you will soon feel like you are about to enter a dream… It is a very interesting building with its exterior decorated with colorful broken ceramic and glass pieces in different shapes, mask-shaped balconies, bone-looking columns, and skull-like wall decorations… For this reason, it is called “House of It is not surprising that it is called “Bones”, that is, “House of Bones”. The inside of the building is as much worth seeing as the outside. When you enter the door, you feel like you’ve entered the sea. Although you may think that the sound of water inside is coming from a fountain that is left open, it is not. A system on the roof creates a water sound that can be heard throughout the building. The stairs resemble the back of a fish, the door handles resemble seahorses, and the ceiling decorations resemble water droplets. As I watch the mushroom-shaped fireplace, the colored glass and tile work on the shapeless oval windows and doors, and the bone-shaped stone columns with astonished and admiring looks, I try not to miss any detail. The inside of the building is curved, as is the outside. The creative surprises we encounter as we move from one section to the next seem to take us from this world to other worlds. Gaudi paid attention to every detail in this one, as in all of his works inspired by nature. For example, the handholds on staircase handrails and door knockers are designed according to the shape of the hand. In addition to giving a sea feeling to the building, the color of the blue tiles in the apartment space was used from light to dark so that the whole house could benefit from the light in the best way. The sunlight filtering through the glass of the large window at the top flows into the building like water. The wooden elevator he installed right in the middle of the light is still working. Wooden ventilation holes inspired by fish gills, laundry room, drying section, golden letters on the door of each flat… There are so many details that we cannot count… The terrace of the building is especially beautiful. The edge of the terrace wall is decorated with a colorful wavy mosaic border. The glass mosaic on the wall, which resembles the gold of the sea, and the colorful mosaics opposite it add joy to people. The curved roof of the building is likened to the back of a dragon. Its spine was animated using tiles of different colors. The color transitions on the tiles give a feeling of being alive. The small triangular window on the right symbolizes the animal’s eye, and it is said that La Sagrada Familia used to be seen through this triangle. La Pedrera, which means “quarry” in Catalan, is quite different from the conventional buildings of the period in which it was built, with its wrought iron balconies that resemble the waves of the sea, each looking like a different sculpture, and its external appearance that resembles a cave. Although it was not liked by the public at first, it later started to attract attention, and after a while it even became a building visited by most foreigners coming to the city. Casa Mila, also known as Casa Mila, is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and is one of the most original and beautiful buildings in Barcelona, ​​and is also the largest private building designed by Gaudi. When we walked in, while I was smiling at Ege’s words, “There can’t be a person who does this,” I was actually thinking, “Creativity can’t be this much.” “It looks more like a work of art than a building.” his words were passing. It is almost impossible to see a straight line in a building where each floor, even the ceiling heights, are designed differently. Touring Casa Mila starts from the roof, which is the most interesting part of the building and one of the symbols of the city. When we went up to the large terrace on the roof by elevator, we saw the colorful broken glass and ceramics and the mosaics made on the chimneys and started wandering around the roof with feelings between admiration and surprise. Although it was quite surprising that an ordinary chimney was transformed into such aesthetically pleasing sculptures, we realized when we entered that it was nothing compared to what we would see later. As I wandered among the 12 chimneys, which were almost human-shaped, inspired by the 12 apostles, and resembled fairy chimneys, I couldn’t help but feel as if they would suddenly come to life. The attic is a different world… While I was in this section, inspired by the skeleton of a snake, I wouldn’t be able to stay that long if I imagined walking around inside a snake. It would be a great loss to leave without seeing this section, which was designed as a museum. Many interesting objects are exhibited here, it is difficult to count them all. The building’s plan, model, sections and many documents related to the project are exhibited here. We were able to see in glass showcases a piece of stone, a leaf with veins, an animal skin, a snail shell, a corn cob, a snake skeleton and many other objects that Gaudi was influenced by when designing his buildings. Ergonomic chair, armchair, furniture and door handle designs in different forms exhibited in the same section were also very interesting. While chairs and armchairs were designed, careful calculations were made to ensure that the places where the body touches them were comfortable. The interior of the flat on the ground floor has preserved and exhibited the belongings of the family who lived in the building in the early 20th century. It is so real that as you walk through the corridors of the house, from the children’s room to the maid’s room, someone comes out and says, “Welcome. As if you’re about to say “How would you take your coffee?”… Güell Park Now we are in a beautiful park that will make you think “This must be the Wonderland mentioned in the fairy tale”… Dome-shaped, bright, colorful tiles resembling a mushroom made of stone at the main entrance of the park, which was built by a Catalan family named Güell as a sign of nobility. The two buildings with roofs covered with polyester are no different from houses in a fairy tale. The mosaic lizard in the middle of the stairs at the entrance is the symbol of the park. The staircase extending from both sides of the lizard leads to the large square decorated with columns. This is actually a very large and beautiful balcony overlooking Barcelona and the sea. Around it, there are mosaic-covered benches that look like waves. Most of the buildings here are covered with mosaics made with colorful ceramic pieces, as in Gaudi’s other buildings. La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Basilica Gaudi, who spent the last years of his life on the construction of this church, decided to combine his deep architectural knowledge with religious symbols to create a structure that would amaze everyone who visited it, and he moved his office here and devoted the rest of his life to this work. When he died before completing his unique work, he was buried here. Although it took a long time to solve the complex architecture of the work, which was left unfinished after his death, construction started again later. The construction of the church, which is on the Heritage List, still continues with public assistance. For this reason, it is also known as the “Unending Church” among the public. Visits here continue in long queues throughout the day. We had the chance to visit the basilica after waiting in a very long queue. Although we thought it was no different from other cathedrals at the first entrance, when we moved to other parts of the building, our feelings were replaced with admiration when we saw the beauty of the works we saw and after watching the movie about the construction phase. Welcoming us with its entrance resembling a castle gate, Poble Espanyol is a small Spanish village, an open-air museum designed for an international exhibition. It was built with the idea of ​​creating a Spanish village that represents the lifestyles of different cultures and religions living in Spain, and was modeled after the most beautiful houses in Spain. However, due to the intense interest it received, it was decided to make it permanent. We also had the opportunity to watch the works of many famous artists, including Picasso, live in the museum in the village, and also the masters of glass and leather crafts when they came out. La Rambla Street This is a meeting point, a place to take a break, a place to sit on a wall and watch the surroundings. It is a magnificent square with its fountain pool in the middle, colorful flowers, birds, statues and beautiful buildings around it. A place of revelry… The first day we came to the city, as soon as we got off the bus, sat on a wall and watched the surroundings, the moment we stepped into La Rambla, the most famous street of the city, which ends with the statue built on the place where Columbus first arrived when he returned from America, the city took us in. . There are groups performing shows with their colorful clothes, people selling all kinds of flowers on the roadside, places where you can sit, drink your coffee, sangria and fill your stomach at every step. You can see people from all over the world, there are people from every country, from Chinese to Indian. So, this is a real mosaic city… Following Rozi and Füsun’s suggestions, “Don’t forget to drink Sangria” (even though it is not possible to forget), we found a nice cafe right on the road and the drink we drank really tasted as good as they said. Sangria; It is a very special drink made with Spanish wine or champagne and filled with lots of fruit slices. One of the most beautiful places on the street is Barcelona’s famous covered market, known as Mercat de La Boqueria. It is possible to find interesting and beautiful fruits, vegetables, seafood and desserts in the market. We were especially attracted by the snack tropical fruit plates. One of the most famous foods of the Mediterranean city of Barcelona is tiny tapas that resemble our canapés. There are many Tapas Bars in the city. Paella is the most famous dish of Spain. There is nothing better than the taste of rice made with seafood. And Flamenco… A dance enthusiast like me would not come to Barcelona and leave without watching it. We immediately bought our tickets for the dance show held every evening at Opera Flamenco, one of the Flamenco show centers on La Rambla. The entire show consists of the time between the first male dancer who comes on stage and his stance that gives the feeling of “I’ll throw two figures here, then I’ll continue” as he walks down the street, to the moment when he turns into a giant dancer on stage at the end of the night. It was really impressive to see them hitting the ground with their specially made high-heeled shoes, the female dancers swinging their tail skirts in a single movement, and sometimes snapping their fingers with the castanets in their hands. When the master dancers, who deserved a standing ovation, finished their performance, we were almost as tired as they were. There is more to tell. However, as its name suggests, this is a mosaic city… So, I created a small mosaic article by dividing the beauties I experienced, saw and tasted throughout my journey into small pieces to share… Adios… Mavimore Tourism is a travel agency registered with TÜRSAB. Document number: A-8307