Barcelona: Tapas, Towers, and Timeless Art

Barcelona is a city like no other. The Catalan heritage and language are still vibrant here. The tapas culture provides an electric current to the bar and restaurant scene late into the evening.

The old city has its share of wide boulevards lined with edifices featuring wrought-iron balconies and stone façades. Narrow, winding alleys evoke romance and intrigue, spilling out to the signature statement of Barcelona — all things Gaudí.

Antonio Gaudí, architect and influencer of all things Modernisme, explodes onto the vibe of Barcelona, as relevant today as he was 100 years ago.

The Basilica de Sagrada Família will, in theory, come to completion this June in concert with the 100th anniversary of the death of its famous architect. This is part of the myth that writes the legend that is the story of the building of this basilica.

While many Gothic cathedrals worldwide began as a commitment by the faithful to establish a sanctuary they would never see completed, the birth of the Sagrada Família is shrouded in destiny. While the preliminary plans were begun with a known architect, within a year they were abandoned, and in a dream, the major fundraiser saw a young blue-eyed, redheaded man who would see it through (sort of).

And just like that, Gaudí is plucked from obscurity and thrust into a lifelong mission to envision and articulate a one-of-a-kind house of worship that is rooted in nature and majesty and uniquely creative. Gaudí’s love of the land and sea and sky is translated into a creation that defies description. His attention to light and detail is spectacular. While war and fires threatened to erase his vision, generations of artisans recreated and expanded upon his plans.

This June, 100 years after the death of Gaudí, it will be finished (well, except for possibly 20% of the final tower, the never-ending upkeep of the thousands of carvings making up the façade, and the creation of the hundreds of bells — but otherwise finished!). A picture is worth a thousand words.

As with any revolutionary, Gaudí influenced art, science, technology, and culture. While shepherding the basilica along, he also designed private homes (Casa Batlló among the most famous, a must-see) and a failed housing development that has become Güell Park (another distinctly Gaudí must-see).

His creative use of light, flow, and organic materials leaves no doubt of the genius behind it. His creations hover somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and Disney fantasy. His genius in harnessing wind and airflow, light and space, led to better living.

While Gaudí is an icon of Barcelona, he is by no means the solitary artist. Barcelona boasts the Picasso Museum, which was curated by one of Picasso’s best friends and offers a view of his progression from a 14-year-old greatly influenced by his father, an art teacher and artist in his own right, exhibiting his work

The First Communion (early Picasso — people looked like people, eyes and noses in their place, sans geometric shapes) at the Barcelona Exposition of Arts and Crafts (an amazingly skillful depiction), to a collection of his Blue Period following the suicide of his best friend, a fellow artist, to his time in Paris, to his pigeons in California, and on to his process of reimagining Velázquez’s Las Meninas. It is a valuable stop on a tour of Barcelona.

We were in Barcelona for Ash Wednesday, so we attended Mass at the Cathedral. It is a beautiful Gothic structure; however, the peaceful cloisters were a huge surprise. There, inside the gates, live 13 white geese to commemorate the martyrdom of St. Eulalia, the patron saint of Barcelona, at age 13.

Lastly, no visit to Barcelona would be complete without an authentic tapas experience. Seated at the bar, you can take in the many small plates available while sampling the local Rioja or sangria. The anchovies, eggs, and fresh grilled vegetables, to name a few, are an exciting way to eat and learn about a place.

In the end, Barcelona lingers not simply as a destination but as an experience — a city where imagination rises in stone, faith echoes through cloisters, genius reshapes skylines, and conversation flows as freely as Rioja. It is a place where history and innovation coexist effortlessly, leaving visitors with the sense that they have stepped into a living work of art.