213. That's very Gaudi

Barcelona 

Fascinated by this bloke sailing
his tiny gaff rigged canoe
(snapped from the Giantavan)

Snap by Audrey

Beautiful day, the beach so tempting, but committed to a day in Barcelona.

Boys (Tjelle; Onno, Fyfe & Roman) elected to stay behind with Nikki & Jenny. MacKenzie joined me, Jacqueline, Iris & Audrey for the trip into Barcelona.

While driving in at two Jacqueline booked tickets to view the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Tickets were running out and the earliest we could visit was quarter to seven. Tickets are expensive but it is the ticket sales that are totally funding the construction. 

We had not realised that there

Photo from today's Guardian Paper

was a protest today. (The Guardian. More than 300,000 people are estimated to have taken to the streets of Barcelona to call for the return of the 16 Catalan leaders who are in prison or have fled the country in the aftermath of last October’s unilateral independence referendum.)

The town was absolutely packed so we gave up on trying to follow the route of the open topped busses after about an hour of little progress and headed out a bit into the burbs to park for free near a Metro station.

We popped out at Las Ramblas and the wenches immediately fell into the markets. I passed the next hour yarning to mates in Blighty to pass the time.

Victorian cable car tower in background

Monument to Columbus

We walked up to the Quadrat d'Or, to view the Gaudi famous houses (commercial buildings). They really are fantastic and it is amazing how many have survived. I really like the way the each intersection the buildings were chamfered to allow the buildings to overlook the intersections - inspired city planning.

Gaudi

Gaudi

Gaudi

Gaudi's final commercial building
(note the chamfered corner)

We then took the Metro to the Sagrada Familia and went in. they certainly need the ticket system as the place wouldn't have been great had there been more people there. Without a doubt, it is one of the most wonderful and beautiful buildings I have ever visited. The interior is so light and airy quite unlike most cathedrals which are dark and foreboding Gothic structures. The columns soar like trees into the massive ceiling. The audio tour was very good but the building was visually overwhelming. I knew there was much more than I could take in. Totally wonderful - gush, gush.

Nativity Facade detail

Nativity Facade

Passion Facade

Christ 

Nativity Facade

Nativity Facade

Nativity Facade

Nativity Facade door

Left is five years old, the right one hundred.
Building 1880–2026

Nativity Facade oboe

Passion facade (sunset colours)

Gaudi as one of the characters in the Passion Facade

Interior snap from Wikipedia.
It really is this good

The columns are made of materials of different hardness. The longest and thickest columns are made of red porphyry, a very hard volcanic rock. They will support the Jesus spire, the largest, heaviest and tallest at 174 metres high, yet to be built. The dark, somewhat smaller pillars are made of basalt and granite columns supporting the lighter and the outermost row of pillars in the church building consist of a relatively soft sandstone.