This is our 4th visit to Barcelona and there are still things to see and do as it is one of those great European cities! We are still on the AmaWaterays tour which included a morning tour of Barcelona highlights. I pretty much knew what would be covered because of our previous visits, but you always learn something new. I knew that what was NOT on the tour was a visit to the inside of the famous Gaudi designed Sagrada Familia church. Tours only show you the outside of the church still under construction since 1882. We had toured the inside long ago when it was nowhere near ready to use. This time I vowed to finally see the finished inside product. To do so you need to purchase tickets way ahead of time, as there are a limited number sold it and it commonly is sold out. I purchased tour tickets for the four of us two months ahead of time. By the way, the construction of the church has been totally with donated funds and ticket sales. They had hoped to have the church completely finished by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s birth. Unfortunately COVID resulted in a significant loss of income and now the church is not expected to be totally complete until the early 2030s. They are hoping to finish the Jesus spire by the 2026 date.
An excellent breakfast buffet. Their bacon was phenomenal and crispy!
Bountiful fruit bar. The oranges and pineapple were especially good.
Another tree lined boulevard.
These ceramic seats/ light poles were scattered along the boulevard.
The 1905 Gaudí apartment called La Pedrera or Casa Mila always attracts a crowd. It has 20 rental apartments.
The elaborate metalwork on the balconies.
Quite a bay window on this building.
All the buildings were ornate and well taken care of.
Not all building are old.
The National Art Museum of Catalonia, noted for its Romanesque murals.
Outdoor art work in the park where the NMAC museum is located.
The viewpoint from in front of the MNAC museum.
It was a cool but sunny morning when we visited.
Looking out at Plaza d’Espanya that was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. Note the huge fountain with no water. They have been turned off because of a water shortage in Barcelona.
The bull ring, opened in 1900, had its last bull fight in 1977. It is now a shopping mall!
Sagrada Familia will dominate the skyline when completed.
The steel structure was the 1992 Olympic caldron.
If you recall the caldron was lite by a flaming arrow.
I could not believe how many bike rentals were available downtown on the waterfront.
There were SEVEN cruise ships in town today!
A lobster sculpture, by Javier Errando Mariscal, is located on the waterfront.
A few of the thousands of cruise ship tourists descending on Barcelona for the day.
American pop artist, Roy Lichtenstein, created this ceramic sculpture for the 1992 Olympics. It is called the “Face of Barcelona”.
Now that is a fashion statement!
The remains of the 17th century city is housed in the El Born district museum of culture.
I could not believe how many people in Barcelona have dogs; many have two!
A street in El Born, the old section of Barcelona, now a hip and trendy area.
A door in El Born.
An old light fixture, still in use today.
One of the many local stores in El Born.
Meat store selling beef. Our guides said Barcelona people do not eat much beef because it is too expensive.
A store selling handmade candles using ancient manufacturing techniques techniques.
The gothic Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, built in the 13-15th century.
Yvonne helping out by holding the “lollipop” for our tour guide.
Local sausage shop.
Santa Maria Del Mar (Saint Mary of the Sea), built between 1329-1383. It is located near the cathedral. A lot of churches were built those days; every neighborhood had one.
Lots of souvenir shops in this area of Barcelona.
There was a big wedding expo in town and here is a bride to be.
Looking for some 18th century antiques? This is the place to look.
There were several of these unique outdoor tables located outside a coffee shop.
The Font del Geni Catala is a fountain that was erected in memory of the Marquis of Campo Sagrado for his contribution to bringing water from the Sierra de Moncada to Barcelona.
Castle of the Three Dragons, built in 1888 as a restaurant for the exposition.
A street near the church. We had to park several blocks away and walk to it.
Tempted to stop for a snack, but resisted the urge!
The magnificent Sagrada Familia church.
Another view. Our tour only walked us around the outside of the church.
There is still more too be built.
Gaudi had his image portrayed in this carving.
Had to laugh when I saw all three of these US “icons” located next to each other near the church.
We had several hours to kill before our scheduled 4PM tour of Sagrada and we decided to do the “Spanish Spain” thing-having paella for lunch. The hotel guided us to their favorite paella place in the neighborhood and we orded the popular seafood and chicken version for four! They are made from scratch so it took about 45 minutes before we saw a huge hot platter being delivered to our table. Did we overdo it? The pictures below will answer the question.
One of several flower beds outside our hotel.
La Paella de Su Pau Claris, a local small restaurant that specializes in paella.
The open, working kitchen where the magic is made.
Common way the restaurants display their Iberian ham. It is delicious.
Toast with garlic spread and tomato is a commonly served appetizer while you wait for the paella which takes 45-60 minutes to make.
Did we overbuy?
I guess not! It was delicious!
We were part of an English speaking group for the guided one hour tour of the inside of the famous Sagrada Famlila church. It was an OMG experience for me. Wow! I have never seen anything like it. And with the setting afternoon sun shining through the massive stained glass windows it provided a spellbinding experience! If you find yourself in Barcelona you absolutely MUST visit this church. It is unlike anything you have ever seen or experienced. It is not to be missed! One fascinating piece of information I learned was that Gaudi was not the original architect for the church. The original architect was Francisco de Paula del Villar, and the church design was of a conventional design church of the time. He was replaced by Gaudi because of “technical differences over material costs” one year after the project began. Gaudi completely changed the design to what we see today- a new wonder of the world! We also got to visit one of the completed towers as part of our tour. Luckily we were able to ride an elevator to the top but had to walk down the 340 steps to exit the tower.
Warning: My pictures do not do it justice. You must see it to fully apppreciate its splendor!
Explanation of the towers of the church.
Entrance to the church.
It is more impressive when you are up close.
Details of the carvings are stunning.
The western side windows are shades of yellow and orange to represent the setting sun. We were there late in the afternoon and the reflections were stunning!
The eastern side has windows in blue and green to reflect morning.
There are 52 massive columns, representing the weeks of the year.
Four major columns represent the four gospels.
Statue of St. George, the patron saint of Catalonia.
All the languages of the world are depicted on this bronze structure.
And this is what they say.
The afternoon sun creates a magical atmosphere.
The main altar with modest organ behind it. I do not know what the lighted canopy is supposed to represent.
View upward toward the ceiling.
Note the carving with numbers. Add them up in any direction and what do you get? The age of Jesus when he died.
Embossed door to the chapel entrance to the nativity tower.
Entrance to a chapel?
Schematic of the nativity tower that we got to visit.
The 6 person elevator you take to the top of the tower.
Walkway in the tower.
The stone objects are much larger when you are up close and personal.
People look pretty small from this height.
View of the city from the top of the tower. You can imagine what they call this landmark. It is Torre Glòries, and houses a commercial company.
One way traffic coming down.
Looking down the 340 spiral steps we had to traverse to exit the tower.
There is always a large crowd outside the church. We were warned it is a fruitful area for pickpockets.
Amazon drop box next to the church.
After our massive lunch we simply opted for a gelato dinner in a nearby ice cream shop. It was quite a first day in Barcelona.
We were still full from our paella lunch so this was dinner!
Coconut and stracciatella gelato!
A small, cute restaurant at 7 PM which is almost empty. By 9PM it will be packed!
Tomorrow we will be visiting another new site for us- the mountain monastery at Montserrat, located about one hour outside Barcelona.
