Trevor Huxham

When people come to Spain for a visit they almost always try to get a glass (or three) of sangría, but to Spaniards this comes across as bizarre, as sangría is typically only consumed at parties, big family gatherings, or Sunday cookouts. It’d be like ordering spiked fruit punch at a sit-down restaurant in the States…just weird. Instead of sangría, to get that iced-wine fix, Spaniards often order  tinto de verano ,  which is simply a tall glass of red wine with lemon soda, ice, and maybe an orange or lemon slice. Fast and simple, refreshing but not inebriating, it’s a great choice for those hot summer months. Miró vermouth at the Museu del Vermut An authentic pre-dinner option is vermouth, a beverage that has seen an explosion in popularity in just the past few years as the younger generation has rediscovered this traditional Spanish drink. But what exactly is vermouth? Simply put: fortified, aromatized wine. Vermouth makers take a neutral spirit and macerate it wit...

Rooftop view Today I’m finally getting around to writing about the road trip my housemates and I went on along Spain’s northern coast…in October. Sorry, guys! I’m so far behind, but I’ve got a long backlog of posts to work through. Our first stop along this tour of Spain’s most beautiful cliffs, beaches, mountains, and countrysides was the seaside village of Comillas in tiny coastal Cantabria. After warming up with the last fall rays of sunshine over a short  cortado  coffee, we packed in to our rental car and headed out of our base in San Vicente de la Barquera to Comillas. Sunflower tiles This town wouldn’t even have been on my radar had it not been home to one of the three buildings that architect Antoni Gaudí designed outside his native Catalunya. In fact, it was one of his first: El Capricho de Gaudí. Earlier in the year I had visited the other two commissions he took outside Catalunya, the Casa de los Botines in León and the Episcopal Palace in Astorga ,...

With my backpack’s sternum strap fastened snugly across my chest, I speed-walked down León’s main avenue at 6:45 in the morning. Although the city still slept, darkness had given way to dawn—albeit a gray dawn, as rain was forecast for the region. I hopped on a glossy-white Regional Express  train and had only biking enthusiasts for seatmates—and their bikes. Half an hour passed by and the rain and the train picked up speed. Soon the ruddy twin towers of Astorga’s cathedral came into view as we went through a curve: decorated blocks topped with pointy, slate pyramids. Astorga Cathedral I left the train station at the bottom of the hill and set off to find breakfast on this drizzly, quiet Saturday morning. Almost no one was out and about, not even party-till-the-sun-comes-up types—but to be fair, this town’s population barely reaches 11,000. Rain pitter-pattered on my polyester backpack cover, my meager umbrella, and my canvas shoes. I arrived at Astorga’s grand square only...

Few know that the Spanish city of León  coincidentally has the same name as the Spanish word for “lion,” kind of how Cork, Ireland, sounds like the word for the woody bottle stopper we put in wine bottles. This bustling provincial capital was founded as an encampment for Roman legions, but over the centuries, the Latin name for this legionary town ( Legio ) converged with the word for lion ( leo ) as Latin grew up and became Spanish. Apparently this distinction was also lost on the locals, as a purple lion is now the city’s heraldic symbol. Fun! León Cathedral I was excited to finally get the chance to explore this city on a cold, drizzly long weekend back in March. Following the Camino de Santiago, but in reverse, I left my apartment in Santiago and caught the train east out toward the broad Castilian meseta , or central plateau. As the last major stop along the French Way pilgrimage that ends in Santiago, León is rightly famous for its French-inspired Gothic cathedral. ...

This week on the blog, I’m celebrating works by the famous turn-of-the-century Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed everything from churches to mansions to public parks. This post is the last installment in a seven-part series; check out the introduction here ! Façade of Casa Vicens This little-seen house is visited by none but the most dedicated Gaudí fans (i.e., yours truly), so when I managed to turn onto C/ Carolines during a sunny Barcelona siesta, I ran into only a handful of fellow travelers, some toting guidebooks and others cameras. I lingered for a few minutes, snapped some pictures, and headed back down a major street to get some  croquetas for lunch. Casa Vicens is—surprise, surprise—still a private home, and so tourists have to be content to admire its architecture from behind iron grillwork. Finished in 1889 at the request of Manuel Vicens, a man in the brick and tile business, the house has subtle nods to Vicens’ industry: warm, red bricking and ha...

This week on the blog, I’m celebrating works by the famous turn-of-the-century Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed everything from churches to mansions to public parks. This post is the sixth in a seven-part series; check out the introduction here ! Colònia Güell patio Eusebi Güell was one of Antoni Gaudí’s most important patrons, commissioning the Palau Güell mansion in Barcelona’s old town and the popular Park Güell . For this post, however, we’re leaving crowded Barcelona for a quiet village on the outskirts of the Barcelona area, Santa Coloma de Cervelló. It was here that Señor Güell moved his textile operations at the turn of the century, establishing an industrial estate to be run by the business on behalf of his employees. Called  Colònia Güell ,  this  company town  stood out from its contemporaries because Güell actually tried to improve his workers’ lives instead of focusing on profits-profits-profits; e.g., he sponsored the construction ...

This week on the blog, I’m celebrating works by the famous turn-of-the-century Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed everything from churches to mansions to public parks. This is the fifth post in a seven-part series; check out the introduction here ! Palau Güell from the street The only work by Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona’s old city , Palau Güell (“Güell Mansion”) fits in with the medieval feel of the neighborhood and reflects the architect’s budding creativity. Owned by the same Eusebi Güell as #3 ( the park ) and #6 ( the church ) in this blog series, the mansion was Gaudí’s first commission for the textile magnate. Although the Catalan word palau is best translated as “mansion,” its cognate, “palace,” could just as easily be used to describe this palatial home. Staircase Residents and guests would enter from the street under one of two eye-like parabolic arches decorated in intricate ironwork. Once inside, their horses and carriages would be led down to an ...

This week on the blog, I’m celebrating works by the famous turn-of-the-century Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed everything from churches to mansions to public parks. This post is the fourth in a seven-part series; check out the introduction here ! Façade of the “La Pedrera” apartment block Between 1906 and 1912, Antoni Gaudí worked on the most distinctive apartment block on the Passeig de Gràcia, a lovely, wide north-south avenue spanning Barcelona’s  Eixample  district or modern, gridded “expansion.” He created a structure at the request of the industrialist Pere Milà that is actually two separate apartments joined by two oblong courtyards and an other-worldly rooftop patio with a wavy floor and weird chimneys. It’s officially called  Casa Milà, Catalan for “the Milà House,” but informally, everyone calls it  La Pedrera  because it looks like an open-face rock  quarry.  Part of the reason the wavy façade is so dramatic has to do ...

This week on the blog, I’m celebrating works by the famous turn-of-the-century Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed everything from churches to mansions to public parks. This post is the third in a seven-part series; check out the introduction here ! Entrance to Park Güell Park Güell is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Barcelona. First, a little background on who this Güell guy was (pronounced “GWAY-ee” [gweʎ]), since he shows up in two more buildings I’m talking about later in the week. Eusebi Güell made a fortune in the textile business as the Spanish region of Catalunya rapidly industrialized in the late 19th century. Early on in Gaudí’s life, the two met and  Güell became one of the architect’s biggest patrons.  Between 1900 and 1914, work was done on an idealized subdivision for the wealthy on land purchased by Güell, but because few of the upper class at the time cared for Gaudí’s style and/or Modernisme, the project was halted. Still, both...

This week on the blog, I’m celebrating works by the famous turn-of-the-century Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed everything from churches to mansions to public parks. This post is the second in a seven-part series; check out the introduction here ! Façade of Casa Batlló Casa Batlló was my favorite of the Antoni Gaudí-designed residences I got to visit in Barcelona last year. A wealthy textile industrialist named Josep Batlló (pronounced “buhl-YOE” [bəʎˈʎo]) had purchased Passeig de Gràcia Nº 43 but was unhappy with the house’s design, so in 1904 he commissioned Gaudí to do something about it. By 1906, the architect had completely remodeled the townhouse in his signature style. The front  façade  offers a way to appreciate Gaudí-style buildings for free. From a distance, the house appears a rather drab bone-gray, but upon closer inspection, faint bacterial colonies of red, green, purple, and blue tiles emerge and bring the façade to life, eve...

This week on the blog, I’m celebrating works by the famous turn-of-the-century Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed everything from churches to mansions to public parks. This post is the first in a seven-part series; check out the introduction here ! The Sagrada Família’s Nativity Façade Unquestionably  Gaudí’s masterpiece , the Sagrada Família is a Catholic basilica that takes up a whole city block in Barcelona’s Eixample district, the new part of town where the streets run on a vast, grand grid. The church is arguably  Spain’s most significant and beautiful piece of architecture  (vying with the Alhambra, a Moorish palatial complex in Granada  to the south). And it is without a doubt an iconic symbol of Barcelona, much as the Golden Gate Bridge represents San Francisco or the Cristo Redentor statue does for Rio de Janeiro. Many people assume the Sagrada Família is the city’s cathedral, but it’s actually a  minor basilica .  Barc...

When I was in Barcelona a year ago this February for a weekend Sigur Rós concert, I ended up spending most of my time in the city hunting down homes and churches designed by the famous Spanish architect  Antoni Gaudí  (pronounced “uhn-TOH-nee guh-oo-DEE” [ənˈtɔ.ni gəwˈði]). Born and raised in the Catalunya region of which Barcelona is the capital, Gaudi was associated with the  Modernisme  or Art Nouveau movement and worked in Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries. The buildings he planned are as much  a symbol of the city of Barcelona  as Frank Lloyd Wright’s are of Chicago. Nave of the Sagrada Família basilica church Gaudí was fascinated by  the natural world  and by  geometry , two fields of study that greatly influenced his design philosophy. Flowing, organic forms appear all over his buildings, and scary math terms like paraboloids, hyperboloids, and helicoids create arches and ceilings that are at once elegant and very struc...