Barcelona and the Gaudi Adventure

One of the few fountains with water as a result of water conservation efforts during the drought in Spain

Ugly cat statue in the plaza outside our hotel

Just a few folks on the street in Barcelona on October! 


 We have not expired despite not having blogged while in Barcelona!

We arrived on Saturday (very early off the ship, sadly) to our hotel in Barcelona. With 5 hours until we could check in, we stored our luggage and got the lay of the land here. We were very close to the famous Las Ramblas avenue so we joined the 1000s of tourists there. I can’t imagine what this would be like in the peak months of June and July because it was CRAZY BUSY in October. We managed to see the Arc de Triumph (yes, they have one too) that marked the entrance to the 1888 World’s Fair. We strolled through a beautiful park and through the Ramblas market which was a kaleidoscope of colour and aromas. Then it was back to the hotel to check in, have an early dinner and bedtime after a long day. We needed to catch our breath before embarking on our ‘to do’ list for Barcelona!

On Sunday, we grabbed Hop-on Hop-off bus tickets and explored the city. It was a great day to do this as a significant portion of tourist activities and shops are closed here on Sundays; darn civilized if you ask me! We were detoured from the regular route in the south part of the city due to a bike race and later detoured in the north part of the city due to a pro-Spain protest (Say ‘No’ to Catalan separation). There were flags and people everywhere! Police estimated the crowd at more than 50,000 while the organizers said the crowd numbered closer to 300,000. I can’t tell you which estimate was more accurate, only that there were a LOT of people!!!!

Monday morning we were off and running (literally) to our first ticketed tour. We jumped in a cab which drove us to the opposite side of the square in front of our hotel, at which point the driver declared that something more important had come up, and that we should get out. We walked back to the hotel to try again but there were no cabs at the taxi stand. The hotel requested cabs 3 times for us and we waited for 30 minutes (all our wiggle room) to catch a cab at to our scheduled tour of Sagrada Familia. Debbie’s blood pressure spiked when the hotel staff said we should go to a major road or to a plaza to gab a cab. So we took off running! ( Chris’s note: picture a scene from Chariots of Fire with the Pillsbury Doughboy scuttling along behind).  We covered the 1.5 km to the plaza de Catalunya in Olympic time, hailed a cab that raced us to our tour with a couple minutes to spare. Then I calmed down and enjoyed the rest of the day immensely.

Sagrada Familia, the basilica most influenced by Antoni Gaudi, is not easy to describe and is probably the most magnificent thing I have ever seen. With all the adornments on the outside and simply pillars, stained glass, and light on the inside, it is opposite any other he church we had visited. We were fortunate to book early enough (2 months ago) that we got to go up one of the towers to see the amazing structure (and it’s hive of workers) as well as spectacular views of Barcelona. 

Then it was off to Park Güell to see more of Gaudi’s Dr. Seuss-like creations and finally to Casa Batllo, the home Gaudi architected. It was magical. The final presentation was called the “cube” which was like a 6 sided omnimax and it was designed to represent the mind of Gaudi with his works, his use of colour and nature. It was pretty intense and wonderful!

And now we are headed home writing this last entry from the airport in London where we sit delayed for a bit but luckily this time, no connecting flight to miss…just great friends staying up past bedtime to collect us at the airport when we arrive!

Can’t wait to see you all soon!

Love Debbie & Chris

The market


Gate to the 1888 World’s Fair

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia…not completed but magnificent!

The Old Testament adorns the Sagrada Familia. One facade is the birth of Christ and the opposite facade is the passion facade.

One of the many beautiful doors

No coloured lights here, just the beautiful stained glass reflecting natural light. Colours change throughout the day as the morning light (blue/green stained glass side) transforms to the sunset side of the basilica with red/orange stained glass.




Elevator up the Passion tower and 426 steps down the spiral.

More colour!

Park Guell



 


Casa Batllo






The Cube







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