Postcards · May 13, 2025
Santa Maria del Mar isn’t Barcelona’s biggest or oldest church, but it may be the most democratic. Built in the 1300s by fishermen, merchants, and stone-hauling dockworkers, this “people’s cathedral” rose in just 55 years—lightning speed for the Middle Ages. Its austere Gothic exterior hides a vast, geometric interior that feels more like a hangar than a chapel.
Postcards · May 12, 2025
Hidden in a residential apartment block in Gràcia, the Estudi Oleguer Junyent preserves the studio of a Barcelona polymath who designed opera sets, decorated grand houses, painted, traveled the world, and collected medieval art. Today his studio still feels lived-in—walls lined with reliquaries, Gothic panels, and even a Baroque sculpture by La Roldana. It’s hard to find, but it’s one of the city’s richest, most personal collections.
Postcards · May 11, 2025
The Biblioteca Pública Arús doesn’t look like much from the street. But it’s a time capsule of radical thought, founded in 1895 by a man who believed knowledge should be free to everyone. It’s one of Barcelona’s most intriguing hidden gems. Small, atmospheric, and still quietly radical.
Postcards · May 10, 2025
Gaudí’s Palau Güell is much darker that the frothy fantasies of Casa Batlló or La Pedrera. The palace rises from Barcelona’s old Raval district with its carriage hall, starlit central dome, and a forest of chimneys on the roof. War, neglect, and graffiti all left their marks, but today it’s restored to its full, stern, brilliant glory.
Postcards · May 09, 2025
Bad idea? Definitely. Unforgettable? Also yes. Without Rick to stop me, I took a solo ride to the top of a very tall, very narrow monument dedicated to a man who famously misidentified an entire hemisphere and still points in the wrong direction. What could go wrong?
Postcards · May 08, 2025
Gaudí’s Casa Batlló is a masterpiece of Modernisme architecture—but the tour experience left a lot to be desired. We navigated crowds, digital overload, and one very pushy spinning floor to find the brilliance beneath the spectacle.
Postcards · May 07, 2025
A quieter, more refined alternative to its famous neighbor Casa Batlló, Casa Amatller delivers on chocolate, architecture, and personal storytelling. A beautifully preserved glimpse into Catalan Modernism—and one of our favorite stops in Barcelona.
Postcards · May 04, 2025
Fernando Botero’s bold forms are easy to recognize—but not always easy to understand. This exhibit at the Palau Martorell in Barcelona shifted everything I thought I knew about him.
Postcards · May 02, 2025
Gaudí’s last residential building wasn’t just ahead of its time—it was also a mess. Between visionary design, spiraling costs, and mutual contempt between architect and clients, La Pedrera became a six-story sculpture and a parting middle finger to bourgeois taste.
Postcards · May 01, 2025
La Mercè may not be Barcelona’s flashiest church, but it just might be its most meaningful—deeply tied to the city’s history, its patron saint, and a religious order founded to ransom captives. I visited on a quiet afternoon and was glad I did.