Gaudi's Barcelona

'Gaudi's Barcelona' is the story of a remarkable artist whose extraordinary work has defined a city on the international stage. Think of Barcelona and you think of Gaudi and the spooky, gothic shapes of the Casa Battlo, the seaweed balconies of La Pedrera and, above all, the unfinished masterpiece that is Sagrada Familia. Antoni Gaudi was a reclusive eccentric who rarely and reluctantly left his native Catalonia and also an ascetic, saintly man who had a less-than-saintly temper. Throughout his life he was driven by a rigid determination to get his way. This determination saw him eventually forgoing society as he receded into a religious fervour bordering on fanaticism. For Gaudi, God was the only client who mattered, so the last years of his life were not just spent working on the Sagrada Familia but living there too. He so neglected himself that when he was hit by a tram in a fatal road accident he was mistaken for a homeless tramp by the passers-by and ambulance men who went to his aid. 'Gaudi's Barcelona' tells the stories of the buildings as well as the man. It's the story of a legacy that has thrilled visitors to Barcelona for decades since.