We only had one full day in Barcelona, so we knew we could really only see a few major sights in depth. Architect Antoni Gaudí’s work in Barcelona is so unique and special, something you truly can’t see anywhere else, so we decided to purchase tickets for certain time slots for two of the biggest Gaudí attractions (Park Güell and La Sagrada Familía) and center our day around touring those sights. After a delicious, self-serve breakfast at our hotel we took a taxi to Park Güell as it was over 2 miles away, uphill nonetheless, from where we were staying (and taxis are fairly inexpensive in Spain). We had perfect weather while in Barcelona and on this particular morning at Park Güell the light and the views were spectacular. We had 9:30am entrance tickets to the park and 1pm entrance tickets to La Sagrada Familía so we had plenty of time to enjoy the park at a leisurely pace and then make the long walk to the church, even stopping along the way at a few souvenir shops for the kids who had money burning a hole in their pockets.
From the park we made our way to La Sagrada Familía (with the help of the City Maps 2Go app which somehow tracks your movement without the use of cellular or wifi), figured out where we would enter with our tickets, saw the long lines at the other entrance and were thankful we’d purchased ours ahead of time online, and then found a great outside café near the church to have a little lunch before our tickets’ entry time. This was probably one of my favorite meals, but that might’ve been because it gave us plenty of time to appreciate the very special view.
La Sagrada Familía was the only tourist attraction for which we paid for each of us to have audio guide headsets and it was well worth it—the lovely choir music and storytelling of the tour definitely added to the experience. And what an experience it was. After touring Gothic churches over the previous few days, La Sagrada Familía felt so modern, yet you had to realize that construction on this still-under-construction church had began over 130 years earlier. Touring this church was unlike anything I’d ever experienced—it truly is an inspired work of art. All of the Gaudí creations, as well as many structures throughout the city by other Modernist architects in the late-1800s to early 1900’s, made me fall in love with the spirit of Barcelona—where else in that time period could such outrageous design have been embraced. Barcelona truly is a special city.
That evening we took a stroll down Las Ramblas to explore La Boqueria, a public marketplace where we bought ourselves a snack of olives and chocolates (probably THE most expensive food we purchased while in Spain, but it was a fun experience each picking out a few things we wanted to try…the candied orange slices dipped in chocolate were amazing). Afterwards, we took a very long stroll down Passeig de Gràcia (near our hotel and where the Block of Discord is) looking for a restaurant known for its paella—it had been renamed the previous month so we passed it by a few times and even returned to our hotel to ask about it before actually finding the right place, but the long walk did help push us to the normal late hour for dinner (by the time we got to 9 or 10pm some nights, it really was hard to convince ourselves sometimes that we should eat…we admittedly filled up on tapas in the evening like everyone else and then skipped dinner a few nights, or had a few oranges or a snack we’d picked up at a market). But, on our last night in Barcelona we wanted to try some paella (it was first created in nearby Valencia) and it gave us the chance to see another Gaudí house, Casa Milá.
Mid-morning the next day we were off on a not quite 3-hour train ride to Madrid, where we would stay the next 4 nights. Barcelona did not disappoint.
{From left to right, top to bottom: entrance to Park Güell (pronounced “gway” by Catalans); beautiful temperate weather for lush plants at the end of December—we have coats and hats on, but it really wasn’t very cold; beautiful view from the park of the city and the Mediterranean; Ella got her new Lululemon bag for Christmas so she was excited to carry it for the first few days; this “dragon” (again, with the St. Jordi, or St. George, theme here in Barcelona) guards the park.}
{The tile benches of Park Güell; me and Ella; Gaudí had his park construction workers collect any broken plates or tile they could find around the city to help create the mosaic benches of the park; can’t beat the view.}
{The cross of Park Güell’s Porter’s Lodge typically photographed overlooking the city was under construction when we visited; the undulating mosaic benches go on and on and are completely decorated on front and back. You can see La Sagrada Familía under construction off in the distance in a few of these pictures.}
{Between the stunning views, the morning light, and my cute kids I couldn’t help but take a bunch of pictures.}
{The construction of Gaudí’s Park Güell began in 1900, commissioned by Güell as an upscale residential community—this is the guard’s house for the community (the community was never completed and in the 1920’s Park Güell became a public park, was recognized as an artistic monument in 1969 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984); this land was known as Muntanya Pelada (bare mountain) before the park was built and Gaudí was always inspired by the nature/land on which he built; a cute boy and more intricate mosaics; the Hypostyle Room, atop of which are the undulating mosaic tile benches; another view of the guard’s house (La Casa Del Guarda)—Gaudí’s style is so singular and inspired; Ella with a mosaic sculpture of a snake’s head coming out of the Catalan flag; Jack with the mosaic “dragon” fountain, also known as the salamander.}
{Enjoying the Austria Gardens of Park Güell; the Portico of the Washerwoman (you can see her in the column here); chasing pigeons near the portico; selfie time; the inside of the portico was inspired by the shape of a wave; poor pigeons; a better view of the wave of the portico; Gaudí was truly inspired by the mountain; Gaudí’s father was an ironworker and Gaudí loved to incorporate sculptured ironworks into his sites.}
{Sights along our walk from Park Güell, which is way atop a hill in Barcelona (we took a taxi from our hotel to the park); there was a very wide pedestrian road between the lanes of traffic; the Passion Façade of La Sagrada Família, Gaudí’s most famous work, 130 years after construction began it is still unfinished; throughout Barcelona there are public water fountains and even up until the 1940s many locals still got their water from these fountains; another view of La Sagrada Família.}
{We had purchased our time-slot tickets to La Sagrada Família online before our trip, so we skipped the lines and instead had some time for a yummy lunch (fried eggplant with honey, Spanish tortilla, and calamari, and montaditos for the kids…plus café con leche and Fanta, of course) with an exceptional view; definitely not a view you have everyday at lunch; mmmm, café con leche; we did some souvenir shopping today (the kids both had Christmas money to spend)—Ella got a mosaic salamander (dragon) figurine and Jack got a Messi Catalan flag FCB jersey, both on our walk from Park Güell to La Sagrada Família (hence the bag on the table).}
{We entered at the Nativity Façade; you can see on this façade, the birth of Jesus; this façade is highly decorated and has that sandcastle look La Sagrada Família is known for; later in our tour, we climbed the Nativity Façade towers and crossed the connecting bridge; this is the Passion Façade, stark in contrast to the Nativity Façade.}
{Our tickets were for 1pm and, at that time (and perhaps it was created to have this effect at any daylight time) the light coming into the nave was so ethereal; the effect of the columns and ceiling were to look like you were looking up through trees in a forest; we each listened to the audio tour while we walked in and around the church, which I highly recommend—lovely church music played during the tour and it all added to the experience, blocking out noises of other tourists and keeping your focus on the awe-inspiring details of this church; of all of the churches I’ve experienced as a tourist, I will say (and this was in part due to the beautiful church music in the audio guide and the lovely light streaming in through the stained glass) that this might be the only one I feel elicited a truly a spiritual experience for me.}
{Ella and Jack were captivated by the audio guides, too; I spent most of my time in La Sagrada Família looking up; intently listening and learning; there were thoughtful details and symbolism everywhere you looked; I loved the light.}
{More interior views of La Sagrada Família.}
{Words from the Bible in various languages on the doors of the Passion Façade; a closer look at the Passion Façade; Roman soldiers; another view inside La Sagrada Família; floor at the Passion Façade entrance.}
{Interior details; exterior details of nature at Nativity Façade; outside Nativity Façade; JESUS on doors of Passion Façade; the Hope entry of the Nativity Façade above which has a statue of Saint Joseph with the child Jesus standing; Ella and Jack in front of the Nativity Façade.}
{Another view inside of the beautiful light; we are about to adventure up to the top of the Nativity Façade towers; a view from going up the towers, so many details from nature; there were many doves on the Nativity Façade towers; I love seeing the unique shadow of La Sagrada Família on the Barcelona city streets.}
{Another dove and the shadow on the view of the city; going down a tower; crossing the bridge between towers; my favorite view of La Sagrada Família shadow; a look at the more cosmopolitan Barcelona and the Mediterranean (plus the moon, too).}
{A look inside the church from the Nativity towers; more details up high on the towers; going down the narrow, winding staircase (eek!); you can see from here just how high we were (the people are tiny ants); “Sanctus” is repeated 9 times on each bell tower of the Nativity Façade; another last look at the Passion Façade before exiting the grounds of La Sagrada Família.}
{Conveniently (a.k.a. well planned) located across the street from La Sagrada Família was an official FC Barcelona store; Jack was in heaven and had trouble deciding what to buy without blowing his entire vacation spending money; throughout the streets of Barcelona we saw Catalan flags hanging from balconies and here “Catalans want to vote”; the previous month, an informal vote (more than 2 million of the 5.4 million eligible voters in Catalonia voted) showed that 80% of Catalans want it to be an independent state.}
{We explored the public marketplace La Boqueria off of Las Ramblas in the early evening, looking for some snacks before a late dinner—we came away with olives and chocolates. From left to right, top to bottom: cured meats and sausages (you can see the blood sausage here, one thing we weren’t brave enough to try while in Spain); the entrance to the market; flowers along Las Ramblas; the canned meats in Spain are of the highest quality; thin slices of jamón; full legs of jamón—at this time of year (the holidays) families will buy an entire leg and slice it throughout the weeks of the holidays for guests.}
{The freshest of fish; yummy varieties of olives; fresh fruit; salted cod (bacalao)—not native to the waters of Spain, but traditional in Spanish dishes (preserved in salt on the ships coming back from fishing in colder waters and then soaked in water before preparation); goose barnacles; checking out the seafood.}
{Bon Nadal means “Merry Christmas” in Catalan; another of Gaudí’s creations, Casa Milá (or La Pedrera which means “The Quarry”); we couldn’t leave Barcelona without having paella for dinner; Jack in his Catalan flag FCB Messi jersey; I think both kids were excited about drinking their orange drinks out of “wine” glasses with dinner.}
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