Architecture old and new

My last day in Barcelona, after Irene left for Scotland, I had plans for dinner at a fish place, MariscCo. It was a 35 minute walk but I hadn't gotten out of the house much to exercise so I hoofed it. It covered a lot of the same route we've come to repeat heading toward the Plaça de Catalunya. Then it turned straight up and the walk became a noticeable climb. I could see Tibidabo on the top of the mountain (?) in the distance; I walked block after block but its illuminated form never got any closer.

Barcelona's filled with great architecture, both old (gothic) and new (very contemporary).

On Carrer de Balmes, I was entranced by the pure machine-like form of this geometric building; it looks like some science fiction movie computer or an interstellar hibernation chamber. This photo is not black-and-white nor retouched.

The modernistas left their stylistic stamp all over town, with organic and floral shapes like those of the Art Nouveau or Vienna Secession movements; I'm crazy about this aesthetic. Frequently, the plasterwork is not just painted, but incised then painted; it's great work. You can see it here in this dramatically-lit facade on a building a block away from the machine-like building above:

After a fine dinner lubricated with a bottle of good cava, I wasn't in the mood (or shape) to walk home so I headed for the Metro.  One of the sidewalks had this wonderful interlocking tile pattern. I'd first seen it mentioned in a guide book, indicating it was not in fact a modernista design, then later saw it on the swanky Passeig de Gràcia. You can see spiral sea-shell like patterns, but also a second interlocking pattern of flowers that look like thistles and a third that looks like tendrils. I'm curious where this clever and gorgeous design originated. [time passes] I finally got my Google-fu on and found other references to this tile, all pointing out that it's a Gaudi design; makes a ton of sense.