Barcelona's Sagrada Familia and Gaudi Sites

Antoni Gaudi took the architectural style known as Art Nouveau a step farther, even, some have argued, into absurdity. The fanciful and outrageous buildings he created in Barcelona have become landmarks, the signature attractions of this Catalan city. Foremost is The Sagrada Família church, officially the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família or the Holy Family Church of the Atonement. One of Europe's most unconventional churches, it is also unfinished, so as you look down from its tower you can see the work in progress below.

You may search in vain for absolute straight lines in Gaudi's Casa Milà, his last and most famous secular work; it resembles a piece of sculpture more than a functional building. Be sure to ascend to its roof - the chimneys are said to have inspired the image of Darth Vader from Star Wars. Parc Güell overlooks the city from a hillside, the views and gardens framed by fantastical creatures - salamanders, fish, an octopus - and designs in bright ceramic-chard mosaics. A fanciful towered house near the entrance is largely covered in colored ceramics. Unlike most buildings, Gaudi's appeal even to children and to adults who don't care a thing about architecture, for one simple reason - they are just plain fun to look at.