Designed by Antoni Gaudi and built between 1905-07, the Casa Batllo is a masterpiece of modern surreal architecture. The locals call it the Casa dels Ossos (house of bones) and I have to agree with them, from the out side anyway. It's skeletal balconies and window frames give it the look of a mythical beast, the rainbow mosaics that decorate the front glinting like scales in the sun.

Inside, the Casa Batllo is just as mesmerising. Every room has a concept, every doorway a different shape, celings ripple like water pools and the intense colour of mosaic tiles that are used a lot throughout the house's decor dazzle you.

The first wonder we came across was a staircase that was built to look like the spine of a sea creature, the walls surrounding it painted with subtle scales to make it look like sheer skin, or a thousand tiny waves on the surface of the sea.

Even the vases and the banister were given magical touches, nothing was left untouched by Gaudi's wand:

On the next floor up we walked into the Piano Nobile, one of the house's entertainment rooms used by the family that originally owned the house. It is now occasionally rented out to private social evenings.

There, we came across a mushroom fireplace with a seat either side of the richly tiled cubby hole. One seat was smaller than the other due to the fact that if a young unmarried couple wished to snuggle by the fire, there would have to be a single seat for their chaperone!

Every lighting fixture in the house was exquisite. In Piano Nobile, a chandelier that looked like a raging sun bore down on us from above, the swirling curves of the ceiling design coming together at the light like a whirlpool.

And every doorway was itself a work of art, proving the fact that Gaudi used not one straight line in the ENTIRE design of the house.

Another stunning piece of celing design was a circle of perfectly rounded bumps. It looked like a ripple in water, a nipple and a hundred other possibilities at once. It evoked the effortless perfection of nature.

Gaudi's Casa Batllo is undoubtedly an organic design, each surface, line and concept being drawn from the natural world, particularly the ocean in many cases throughout this particular house in Gaudi's many designs.

The main staircase that leads to all of the appartment doors (there are private appartments still in use). It is designed as a light shaft which needs no artificial lighting as the sun, and the way the tall shaft is constructed to reflect light stays bright throughout the day. The tiles are also coloured to fade up from light to dark blue - to create the illusion that the hall is getting lighter the further away from the natural sunlight you descend. It's like being under water and looking up at the sun beyond the surface.

The landings are lined with opaque glass, distorted with waves and swirls which, when looked through, gives you the exact impression that you're looking through water.

The roof of Casa Batllo is a sight to see. It looks almost like the back of a dragon, and the chimney stacks look like ghosts craning their necks to view the Barcelona skyline.

Inside the "dragon's back" is a small domes room, in which Gaudi created a spectacular lighting effect with the simplest of fountains.

Finally we made our way out of Casa Batllo through the attic. Though this may sound like a dusty old place, Gaudi's attic is gorgeous - pure white and smooth. The structural design of the arches is based on the ribs of sperm whales, and was the first self-supporting arch designed in that style. It is full of nooks and crannies of interesting shapes, some with beautiful lighting.

We even got to meet Gaudi himself...well, his virtual remainder anyway...

The Casa Batllo is a definate see for everyone, whether your an art lover or not. The organic shapes, vivid colours and amazingly creative imagery used in every single space is not something to be missed, well worh the 13 euro (or so) that we paid to get in. It may see steep, but I think you can gather from the pictures here (which dont do much justice to the design) that this dreamy palace is worth seeing in one's lifetime!