Casa Batlló

Lonely Planet review

This is Gaudí at his hallucinogenic best, and one of the strangest residential buildings in Europe. The façade's blue, mauve and green tile studded with wave-shaped window frames and balconies, rises to an uneven blue-tiled roof with a solitary tower. Locals know it variously as the casa dels ossos (house of bones) or casa del drac (house of the dragon).

It's easy enough to see why. The balconies look like the bony jaws of some strange beast and the roof represents Sant Jordí (St George) and the dragon. If you stare long enough at the building, it seems almost to be a living being. Owned by the family that runs the Chupa Chups lollipop empire, the 1st floor of the building has been open to visitors since 2002. It is worth every cent of the admission. When Gaudí was commissioned to refashion this building, he went to town inside and out. The internal light patios shimmer with tiles of deep sea blue. The ceiling is twisted into a vortex around the sunlike roof lamp; the doors, window and skylights are dreamy waves of wood and coloured glass. The same themes continue in the other rooms and covered terrace. As you walk out onto the terrace, the floor on either side is obscurely transparent and shot with more curvaceous motifs.