Fantasy in Barcelona

Our day in Barcelona was like a walk through some enchanted city in a children's book. The last time we were in Barcelona we had wanted to go to the Sagrada Familia, but the lines were two hours long and we gave up standing in the sun for the tickets. Better prepared this time, we bought tickets online a few months ago, for a one hour tour with an English guide.

 

We caught the port shuttle to the Christopher Columbus Column in the Placa Del Portal de la Pau, and walked to the Paral-lel metro station. After quickly figuring out the automatic ticketing machine (in Spanish) we caught the purple line to Sagrada Familia station (2euros) and very easy to do. 

 

We wandered to the back of the Sagrada to exchange our voucher for tickets, and were soon met by our guide, Maria. As we waited we developed sore necks, from so much gazing up in awe at the amazing exterior - probably the worlds most unusual building. 

 

 Anton Gaudi started to build the Catholic Sadrada Familia Temple, the temple of the Holy Family, (it isn't a Cathedral because each city can only have one Cathedral, and Barcelona already has one). After graduating from architecture, Gaudi started in 1883 and he worked on it for 43 years before his untimely death when he was run down by a street car and died in hospital.

 

 The design is amazing - words can't describe the construction - the photos tell the story. Still unfinished, construction continues, financed by the entrance fees paid by tourists - more than 60 million euros annually.

 

We spent the hour walking around picking our jaws up from the ground - every sculpture - every corner has a deeply meaningful story behind it. For example, the sculpture of Jesus on the cross is faceless - representing all the faces of the people of the world and the hair is in the shape of pages of a book, representing all the stories of mankind - powerful imagery.

 

Inside the vistas are just as wonderful - the current project is to complete the stained glassed windows by 2014 and it is planned that the building will be finished by 2026, 100 years after Gaudi's death - I would love to see it in its glory when complete - what a masterpiece. We spent a lot of time after the tour in the museum under the Sagrada, which has lots of the models made by Gaudi at the time when he designed the building as well as the modern drawings and models which are being used by the contractors nowadays.

 

We had a great lunch in a tapas bar, selecting tasty morsels from the dishes behind the counter and enjoying a cold sangria - wonderful.

 

We caught the metro back into the Old City, and walked around the Gothic Quarter, and then the Boqueria - the fresh food markets, selling every food item imaginable - we even saw a wedding party having photos taken - apparently both families had stalls here for many generations so what better place to join them together. Sitting in a café we watched with amusement as a turf war between two buskers took place - as they walked around each other and both started to play at the same time, drowning out the sound of their competition.

 

The pedestrian street, La Rambla is a busy central tree shaded walkway is a vibrant collection of cafes, bars, news stands, flower sellers and street performers is a great place to while away time strolling along. The fantasy continued as one particular performer caught our attention - her costume and makeup was incredible - and I couldn't resist checking it out at close range and we were happy to drop a few coins into her bucket. Some of the costumes are so bad, dirty and torn and so it is great to support someone who has gone to so much trouble and expense.

 

We had heard about another fantasy, not to be missed in Barcelona, the bar attached to the Wax museum, located just off La Rambla - so we arranged to meet Jo and Garry here for a drink before we headed back to the ship. El Busc de les Fades is like walking into an enchanted forest - you expect fairies and elves to peek out from the trees at any moment -  so we shared a bottle of Cava - Spanish champagne and gazed around in wonderment. 

 

It had started raining by the time we left the bar so we went 'singing in the rain' back down La Rambla to our port shuttle - what a  fantasy filled day in Barcelona.