Gaudi's Barcelona

The native Catalan architect certainly left his mark on this great city and a visit to Barcelona wouldn't be complete without taking in some of his greatest works. An architect seemingly without contemporaries, Gaudi's free-flowing post modern creations were decades ahead of his time. The world has taken note of Gaudi and this is reflected in the fact that the properties mentioned below are all UNESCO world heritage sites. La Pedrera The real name for this building is in fact, Casa Mila - La Pedrera is a nickname and means "the quarry" in Catalan. When Gaudi built this residence between 1905 and 1907 most Catalan's at the time lambasted the architect for defacing the city's skyline, hence the derogatory moniker. Today none of these negative connotations remain and, indeed, city residents view it as one of their proudest landmarks. Standing on the Passeig de Gracia the building does not contain one single straight line, instead following a wave-like, organic form. Highlights include the wild and wonderful wrought iron balconies and the rooftop with its wonderfully original chimney stacks. Casa Batllo Gaudi was commissioned to refurbish this building by the owner, Josep Batllo. Taking this brief Gaudi embarked on one of his most daring and easily recognisable designs as he completely transformed the old building. His radical design showed equal disregard for the straight line and he added bone-like balconies and used the "trencadis" technique of using shards of broken tiles to create a shimmering mosaic of colour on the fa