Hello hello hello! For this week’s Where in Spain Wednesday, I’m featuring the other Gaudí house (after quite a few posts professing my love for Casa Batllò).
This fancy building is La Pedrera – the Quarry. Its official name is Casa Milà, and that’s a fun way to test if people are native Spanish speakers or not. Guiris like myself sometimes call it Casa Milà just because it’s easier to pronounce (those ‘dr’ combinations are tough to wrap my tongue around for some reason!).
Anyway, the house is the second Gaudí house located on the fanciest street in the city, Passeig de Gràcia. It used to be full of residents in 20 different apartments, but today it’s only for visitors. The best part of the house is definitely the terrace. You can just spot the tops of the twisting towers from the street (they’re supposed to look like smoke spirals from the chimneys).
According to an audio tour my mum listened to, Gaudí originally had bigger designs for the roof which involved sticking an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary on top. This was not a popular idea with the anarchists, and in the end it was disallowed on grounds of being too tall anyway. Much as I like Gaudí’s weird sculptures, I have to say it’s probably nicer without it!
Have you visited La Pedrera? Did you go inside or just see it from the outside?
Besos!
-Jess
I was there a couple of years ago and as you said the nicest part is the terrace, I have some very lovely pictures there… 🙂 the statue part I didn´t know, I guess I didn´t pay too much attention to the house history when I was there, I was more busy with taking the perfect shots of it and with me in it 🙂 Anyway you´ve just managed to make me want to go again 🙂
I didn’t pay that much attention when I went either, but luckily my mum did! 🙂 She always fills me in on the cool stuff my mind wanders during on tours haha.
Reblogged this on Big Blue Dot Y'all and commented:
Gaudi = Giddy
Thanks for the reblog love! 🙂
I did visit this place the one time I went to Barcelona. Very cool and funky on the inside just as on the outside!
Yeah, the inside is cool! I still can’t quite believe that people actually lived there.
I visited La Pedrera 4 years ago and loved it! I included it in my book Amanda in Spain-The Girl in the Painting. That roof top is amazing!
I agree, the roof is so cool! 🙂
I visited a few years ago and was obsessed with that rooftop! Such cool design.
I am too! It’s so neat. I didn’t realize it was supposed to look like smoke spirals until my mum (who always actually listens to her audioguide tours) told me.
It is a truly awesome building. Try visiting it some evening… during the summer there tend to be concerts on the roof. Real magic 😉
I love it in the evening! I actually went to one of those concerts once…and it rained the whole time. We ended up having to sit inside. It was still beautiful, but not quite the same as the roof terrace.
Oh no! 😛
Sending thoughts you way on this sad day w/the train crash.
Thanks Mary. That was such a horrible crash, wasn’t it? Thoughts to all the passengers.