Traveling Beyond Barcelona – Colony Guell and the Gaudi Crypt

We as travelers / tourists / insert-your-term-here tend to get stuck in circuits when we travel. We visit a city and use our guidebooks to hit all the tried and true sights. We trap ourselves in this routine city after city. I know. I’m guilty. In Barcelona, it’s La Sagrada Familia and the rest of the Gaudi circuit, Catedral de Barcelona, La Rambla, the Gothic Quarter, the beaches, and more Gaudi. They’re all safe and easy to get to (watch your belongings around La Rambla though). We return home feeling culturally rewarded and travel accomplished.

Should we feel culturally rewarded? Is that the itinerary of the well-traveled or is it the itinerary of a passport stamp collector? Have we truly experienced a place by going where everyone else has gone? The real cultural gems often lie beyond the city limits. Beyond the reach of the metro system and hop-on-hop-off buses. This is where you can brush off some real cultural travel gems. My recent trip to Barcelona allowed me the opportunity to experience more with a daytrip outside of Barcelona through Barcelona Is Much More.

Exploring Real Catalonian Life in Colony Guell

The first stop on our day trip was Colony Guell. The once industrial colony is now a suburb of Barcelona. The village was built in 1890 on the outskirts of Barcelona. At the time, industrials were looking to move their factories outside of Barcelona and into the surrounding hillsides. The factories had become outdated and working conditions deteriorated resulting in injuries, deaths, and protests. The factory migration also helped industrialists to move closer to energy sources to help lower operating costs.

Colony Guell was one of the last colonies built and one of the most progressive of its time. Most colonies were constructed with a focus on three landmarks that served as gods to remind workers / residents who they were in the food chain of life: the factory, the church, and the owner’s house. Colony Guell was different though. The owner, Eusebi Guell, motives were more noble than financial profit.

Guell invested in the welfare of his workers. His house was not a central point in the community. Instead, he made the school the focal point. He couldn’t understand illiteracy and wanted to do his part to eliminate it for both boys and girls by investing in education.

Gaudi’s Most Hidden Treasure – The Gaudi Crypt

Guell also believed in the arts and hired Antoni Gaudi to design the church for his colony. This was at the same time that Gaudi was beginning to work on Sagrada Familia (the walls of the famed cathedral were only three meters tall). Gaudi used the project with his architectural ideas for Sagrada Familia.

Inside, the church is a patchwork quilt of architectural ideas with columns and archways that nobody really knows how they function. Gaudi’s artistic flare comes to life as the church is dedicated to both God and nature. Gaudi wanted the church to blend in with the surrounding woods so he used colors that matched the surrounding trees. Another example of the cross between God and nature is the stain glass window cross which opens to resemble a butterfly.

The church is a great specimen to Gaudi’s genius in a much more condensed format. It’s easy to sit on the pews, also designed by Gaudi so everyone has an elbow rest, and move your eyes from architectural element to element.

There Is so Much More to Explore by Going Beyond

I thought about skipping this day tour to visit what I thought were the must see sights inside Barcelona, the ones that I missed the day before. I’m glad that I didn’t. I would have missed a true education and insight into life past and present traveling beyond Barcelona and touring Colony Guell and the Gaudi Crypt. I wouldn’t have strolled the quaint town square where real life takes place, watched classrooms of school children walk by, or had a local tell about life past and present in the town, which he is so proud of.

Getting There

You, too, can visit Colony Guell and the Gaudi Crypt. Getting there from central Barcelona is easy. Take the S4, S8, or S33 metro towards the Martorell Enllac stop. Colony Guell has its own stop about 40 minutes outside of town. Once in Colony Guell, you can opt for self-guided audio tours or enjoy a guided tour like the one I did. I recommend the guided tour as our guide was an actual resident of the city. His firsthand experience in the village not only lent a better education but also a passion the self-guided audio tour can’t provide.

This is a real village so all the amenities you’d expect are available. Be sure to enjoy lunch like a local in the square.

What Buried Treasures Have You Uncovered by Traveling Beyond the City Limits?

Disclosure – Muchas gracias to Barcelona is Much More for inviting me to learn more about Colony Guell and the Gaudi Crypt. Sometimes tourist boards invite me on trips, and sometimes, I go on my own accord anonymously. Regardless, readers receive my honest feedback as my opinions are not for sale.