Sagrada Familia

My first look at the Sagrada Familia was from the top of the double decker Official Barcelona Tourist bus.  I thought that would be enough, but this morning Bonnie announced we were on our way to see the inside of the basilica.

And so my second look at the church was the one hour in the line up with circled the east, west and north faces of the basilica. Bonnie and I idled away the time in the line-up talking to a woman and her 3 girls from midwestern USA. She was using her day in town off of the luxury liner, to see the Temple of the Sacred Family. I don´t know how one makes a choice of what they should do, if they only have one day in Barcelona. For me, the Park Guell, the Picasso Museum and the Sagrada Familia are in a three way tie for first place.


Sagrada Familia

Inside the building with our audio guides around our necks and the tickets for the lift to the top of one of the towers in our pockets, we busied ourselves going from station to station, trying to pay attention to the marble structural pillars or the light coming through the windows, or to the elaborate ornamentation on the outside of the church -- on both the Nativiity and the Crucficition facades.

Gaudi is such a visiual treat – no corner the same, no symetry to be found anywhere, and surprises at every curve -- the curves of which the building has many.

I flagged at 5:30 pm, but Bonnie wanted to take one last look from inside the church at the stained glass windows on the east and west facade. As she was looking up, I was looking down at the floor. The light from the setting sun had turned the marble floor tiles a deep rose colour.  Just the colour of that floor was worth the price of admission.

If we were to do the trip again, I would take a bigger lunch, bring warmer gloves, wear one more sweater, and arrange to arrive 2 hours earlier.
Arta