After Casa Mila, we had to hustle over to Sagrada Familia for our 12:15 entry time; getting there involved two different metro lines and a decent hike underground between the two. We didn't even have time for lunch, which made me nervous that frayed nerves might get the best of some of us. I had grabbed a box of Fruit Loops from the ship, so I doled those out to the boys to get them a little sugar boost.
In the end, though, we were all so awed by this place that it didn't really seem to matter. Sagrada Familia was one of the highlights of the trip. We learned so much and took so many pictures that it's a real struggle to organize everything into one somewhat coherent blog post!
The nativity side, which is what I (and most people) think of when we hear Gaudi...the "drip castle" look. Our tour began outside this entrance, which is the eastern face of the church.
The church is built in the shape of a Latin cross. Tradition says [construction starts] at the altar or the head of the cross, which is the most important, and work your way to the feet. The 'main' entrance to the church is away from the altar. -James
You can see what's completed in this picture - only the darker brown parts. The lighter towers are all future construction. Gaudi died in 1926, so the goal is to finish the church by 2026...seems rather ambitious!
The tallest center tower will be 172.5 meters, which is a half meter shorter than the tallest mountain surrounding Barcelona. Gaudi thought that his work should not surpass God's work.
In the center below is the holy family. On the left are the wise men; the shepherds are on the right.
The tree of life. Gaudi was definitely not afraid of color!
Inside. WOW. The last time James and I were here (1999), this was covered ceiling to floor in scaffolding, so I was completely unprepared for this interior. It's stunning.
Doesn't this expression say it all?
Altar
Rudy, with the east entrance behind him.
Close up of the ceiling:
You're supposed to feel a sense of nature, even inside. Can you see how it feels almost like you're on the forest floor, looking up into the tree canopy?
Then we sent to Sagrada Familia or the sacred family. Inside was full of stained glass colors. Red and yellow for sunset, blue for the ocean and green and brown for the mountains. -Brady
The gorgeous stained glass windows are made even more impressive by the bright and airy interior.
In the Sagrada Familia it was really cool that the stained glass represented Jesus' birth and death. -Rudy
When you come out on the west side of the building, the style changes and becomes what I'd call more modern - sharper edges and harsher angles. This is also the Passion side, which may account for the different tone of the sculptures.
Notice the helmets of the soldiers below the crucifix? Very similar to the chimneys at Casa Mila.
The 4x4 grid in the sculpture always adds up to 33, Jesus' age when he died.
Looking up at the towers. Notice the riot of colors used in the towers!
We took a brief tour through the museum in the basement of the building. One of the audio guides quoted someone from Gaudi's school of architecture as saying he didn't know if they were giving a degree to a madman or a genius. When you get a peak inside Gaudi's mind and ideas, you have to believe it's certainly a little bit of both.
The ringer for the bell tower
The man himself, not too long before he died. He was killed when he was hit by a tram on his way to his daily prayers. All that genius, gone with a freak accident.
Our tour ended back at the Nativity side. We got a close up look at the doors, with the intricate flora and fauna details:
Catnap for Rudy! (Amazing, that kid...). We snacked on oranges I'd packed from the ship before carrying on toward our tower entrance.
Land and sea turtles, representing the east (ocean) and west (land) aspects of Barcelona.
Next up was the tower entrance. We'd chosen the Passion tower, with its elevators, in case Kathy and Tony decided to join us. They opted out, but given the walking we'd already done and still planned to do, I don't think we missed the steps! We rode the elevator up and took a short walk around one of the towers, enjoying the close up views of the construction and other spires as well as the city skyline.
There will be 18 spires on the completed church: 12 for the apostles, 4 for the Evangelists, and one each for Mary and Jesus. I have conflicting information about this - I read that the the spires are topped with bread or grapes, representing holy communion. However, our tour guide indicated that each spire is topped with some piece of natural abundance - loaves of bread, sheaves of wheat, and various types of fruit. I'm going with the second, because it sure looked like we saw watermelons and raspberries too!
Close up of the produce at the top of the spires:
Clearly still under construction!
Heading down a few levels to get back to the elevator
After the tower, we were all HUNGRY but I think we still weren't quite ready to leave. We went inside for one more look around. When we came back in, the sun was lower in the sky so were were treated with the light streaming in through the west side.
Love the spiral staircase
We noticed details this time that we'd missed the first time inside. I imagine that's true for every time you step foot inside! These medallions were in the four corners at the top of the columns near the altar. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
We finally had to close out our visit; it was long past 2:00 and we hadn't eaten much since breakfast. We also knew we wanted to join a 4:30 walking tour back near the Ramblas. We ate just around the corner from the church - not a particularly memorable meal, but good enough to fill our bellies and rest our feet! Next it was back on the metro to make our way to the Old City Walking Tour.
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