Alex informed us all over breakfast that today was a holiday in Barcelona (not Spain, just Barcelona). Complete with a Barcelona running race right on our street!
We weren't concerned that this would upset our plans as we had booked our
tickets to the La Sagrada Familiar online as suggested the day before. So after brekkie without mucking about (our time to arrive was booked between 10am and 11am) we wandered over. The queue at 10am was
already a few kilometres long (I may exaggerate somewhat) so we were
pretty chuffed to walk straight in. Didn't really know what to expect
except that it was a Gaudi creation and it was a Basilica (Greg
didn't even realise that much).
So... we were pretty
wowed by the entire thing! It's like Dr. Seuss meets disney meets the
Vatican but at the same time it's own unique creation. If I was ever
going to call a building a piece of art, this was it. Greg was
impressed by Gaudi's ability to employ both creative architecture and
intelligent structural principles, and could have spent a lot longer
in the museum at the end than I. We spent 3 and a half hours there.
The two completed facades, one telling the story of the Passion and
one of the Nativity, are simply amazing, and the interior... Well
anyway here are some photos. The dang thing is still only 60%
complete which is just crazy.
You enter via the 'Passion Facade' which means you go in about an hour after you arrive because it takes that long to examine every aspect of the facade first! Beautifully simple sculpture.
The betrayal.
Peter renouncing Jesus three times. Spot the rooster.
The 'Gethsemane Gate'
Pilate washing his hands.
Finally inside, about to get a very sore neck from gazing up in awe...
The columns holding it up were modelled off of trees, complete with knots, branches, and leaves.
The golden triangle right at the top above the alter symbolises the Holy Trinity - symbology was everywhere. Gaudi apparently wanted the place to be like a living prayer.
The ceiling.
The organ with lights from the stained glass windows reflecting off.
The windows were so beautiful and were like rainbows - my favourite!
Spiral staircase looking very much like something out of a disney movie, or perhaps Fantasia from the Never Ending Story. Somehow managed not to look tacky...
What will eventually be the main door below the unfinished 'Glory' Facade, with the Lord's Prayer written in either Spanish or Latin in the stand out lettering (I forget, and if I was smarter I could tell by looking...)
The writing covering the rest of the door is the words "Give us this day our daily bread" in a multitude of different languages. Spot the English!
The Nativity façade on the other side of the other non-main entrance. Equally as intricate and amazing as the Passion façade but due to it's intricacies more difficult to photograph so I've only put one of mine up here. (Plus too many photos already)
Then we paid a couple of euro to ride the lift up into the towers.
The bonus of taking a photo of another bunch of people for them, is that often they'll then take one of Greg and I together!
This was a scary place to stand!
The view of Barcelona. Not too shabby.
Gaudi Park, opposite the Nativity entrance.
Greg standing in another scary place!
The windy staircase to get down again.
At the bottom, looking back up the windy staircase.
The view of the outside from another angle.
Inside the partially completed cloister.
Picture from inside the museum showing how much is finished and what is still to come over what time scale. It's only 60% done so far!!
Gaudi built a schoolhouse beside the Basilica for the children of the workers etc.
As we left, the Nativity facade from across the street.
The most mental building I have ever seen. More impressive even than the Vatican I think. But that could be observer bias.
By the time we got back to base at around two pm we were pretty much beat. We'd had grand plans to visit the Gaudi park or the park with the olympic stuff, museums and a hill with good views of the city (and a magic fountain at night) but we honestly couldn't be stuffed! We had found a laundromat in a Placa nearby which had good eateries too and we were in desparate need of laundry (which was summed up amusingly that morning when I had got dressed and announced “last pair of undies” to which Greg replied “same pair of undies”). We also needed to validate the railpass before we used it the next day and I was paranoid that the train station we were leaving from wouldn't be big enough to validate it for some reason.
So we missioned over to the Placa, figured out how the laundromat worked (first time at a laundromat!) and got the washing going. Then we found a 'Piadina' place for lunch which was a flat bread with pizze toppings folded in half – this was cheap and yummy and we got iced tea also. The washing was done so we chucked it in the dryer and then got some icecream.
While we were standing outside the laundromat I found a great way to pass myself off as being Spanish even when spoken to... there was a lady inside with a large load of laundry and she clearly wanted one of the large machines (there were only two) because it's cheaper. One was about to finish and then it finished and the person hadn't shown up to clear their stuff out so she was a bit stuck. When she saw us hanging around outside eating icecream she popper her head out the door and went “blablablainSpanishblablabla”. Having already observed what was going on I knew exactly what she was asking and my spoonful of ice-cream was conveniently in my mouth at the time. So I shook my head, made a negative noise, and pointed at the dryer we were using at the time. She nodded and said something else then went back inside. Successful 'conversation' in which my foreignness was not immediately obvious hurrah!
After 20 minutes laundry still not quite dry so back at home we improvised - cheers to Mike and Maria for the fabulous travel washing line!
Laundry achieved we dropped it off then went on a Metro Adventure to get the ticket vaidated and work out where we were going to have to go the next morning to catch our train to France. Apart from being hopelessly foreign and useless at the information desk at the station, we succeeded in our mission and then toodled off home (and when I say toodled I mean, took the metro, alighted in a random place, got lost, had to use the GPS to get back to where we were staying...)
We got back hot and tired after 5pm. The Aussie couple were back too and in a similar state. The lady (Melanie) got talking to us and then we chatted for over an hour about heaps of stuff. She was crazy easy to talk to! When it got late enough (the Spanish don't really have tea until 9pm) she invited us to come out to dinner with her and Mike. We consented and had a fabulous dinner out, actually in a Spanish restaurant with an amusing waitress (who I quietly suspected may have once been a man). When she brought out the wrong food on multiple occasions Mike almost killed himself remembering the faulty towers quote “don't worry, she's from Barcelona!”. With the help of the other couple, who had been in Spain for over a week and had a better handle on Spanish/How the whole Spanish Thing Works, we got an assortment of 'tapas' for tea. Mike was in IT and him and Greg chatted easily about all things computers while Melanie and I shared travel stories. They were from Sydney and just very nice people. What a great evening!
Tuna salad and free bread things. Free bread abounds in this part of the word it seems (Turkey too)
They took a photo of us and I remembered to photograph the food, but after drinking that sangria I forgot to get one of Mike and Melanie!!
Grilled mushrooms and saucy chicken wings. Not pictured here but also consumed was a spanish omelette, croquettes, and patatas in a rather spicy sauce.
OMG cheesecake yumyum
The custard thing was a local specialty (But it just wasn't cheesecake).
I had a very yummy Sangria and was a little tipsy on the way home to the amusement of everyone else (“Toin coss” was the most winning thing I said I think...).
Then it was off to hit the sack for an early start in the morning to catch the train to France!!
Mmmm, Sangria. OMG... cheesecake.
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