Food & Leisure: Casa Batlló

Location: Passeig de Gràcia, 43, Barcelona
Coordinate: N41°23.5072′ E2°09.9039′
Contact: +34 93 216 03 06
Website: http://www.casabatllo.es/en/
Operation: 9.00am - 8.00pm. Close on Christmas and New Year. Entrance fees apply. Discount applicable to Barcelona card holder. The ticket price was €14.55 when I visited the place, and am Barcelona card holder. And also the price is inclusive of the audio guide which could help one understand better Gaudi's masterpiece inside.

Officially, this is the first day we visiting Barcelona. We were not sure whether to visit which casa, and at the end Casa Batlló was chosen. Reason? The exterior is more colorful and nicer compared with Casa Milà. Don't get me wrong as I never visited both places, but we will only visit 1 place. We went to both Casa, using our Barcelona card to travel, and we came back to Casa Batlló for the visiting.

From outside, the design layout is different with its neighbour. It is very colorful and unique in its own way. I was imaging the facade design looks like the mask that usually people will put on for function, those movie I've watched on the tv. Haha... Is it the idea comes from here? In fact, some says that it looks like the building was made from skulls and bones, and hence the local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones).

The building was built in the year 1877. Later, the owner Josep Battló Casanovas orignally planned on demolishing the building and re-building. However, Gaudi managed to convince the owner that this is not necessary, and that renovation would be sufficient. In 1904, the renovation work begun and completed in 1906.

In general the whole house gives one the filling that the whole place is alive, particuarly the inside of the house gives you a felling that you are inside in some kind of creature. The house is uniqe also because it has not a single straight line. Everything is narrow, it has planty of interesting and vibrant colors, abstract shapes and it is decorated with lot of different materials. Some of the area, I felt like wondering in the underwater world.

On the top of the house Gaudi has created a very unique tile roof which ressembles the back of a fantastic dragon (although this has never been confirmed). On the roof Gaudi also made one of his favourite motives a round tower with a floral dome, which is topped with the four-branched cross.

This photo was taken from upper part of the building. With this, I could captured the details of the tiles, where the upper part is darker in color compare with the lower, representing the tone color. With this, Gaudi believe that when the sunlight comes in, one could see an even color on the wall when the lights shine thru from the rooftop. This shows how every single details being taken care of by Gaudi in his masterpiece. Marvellous!!!