When I booked a long weekend in Barcelona, I was thinking mostly of tapas, sangria, late nights and siesta afternoons mixed with a Mediterranean locale and warm sunny weather. All of that proved to be true, but I was somehow unaware of the architectural pulse at the heart of the city.
After three-plus days of touring around, it’s clear that Barcelona’s nickname should be the “City that Gaudi Built.” That is, of course, wholly unfair to all of the others who have lent their senses of style and even whimsy to Barcelona. You can see the waves of eras and influence as you travel around, making it clear there have been many architectural movements over the years. Yet Antoni Gaudi’s work is the easiest to spot and towers above the city, quite literally. The spires of his Sagrada Família cathedral are an architectural high point in more than one way. Parc Güell, an 42-acre homage to his work, sits high on a hill that looks over the city and down to the sea.
The funny thing about a city so defined by its building and it builders is that it trains you to look for style and design in everything. Quickly I began to focus on the lights of the city…not in the big lights, big city brilliance way — but in the diversity and creativity of the very fixtures.
Here are six of my favorites:
(Images: Emily Fisher; splash, angelocesare)
