Sagrada Familia

It is our last full day in Barcelona, and I think we are perfectly OK with that. The city has its charms but, overall, it has a far more hectic vibe to it than Madrid, and it just feels rougher and dirtier (perhaps because the central government soaks up tax dollars from all of the industry here and uses it to polish up the capital). In my younger days that probably would hold a certain appeal, but I found my a gray hair today, so it seems that time has passed.

The main thing on our itinerary for this part of the trip is Sagrada Familia, the odd looking cathedral that, after some 140 years, is finally nearing completion. Google tells me that new cathedrals aren’t are rare as I would have guessed, nevertheless, this one seems to get all the press and we’re about to find out why.

I lost count long ago of the number of cathedrals I’ve passed through, yet they still seem to impress. Some, like St. Peter’s, Notre Dame, and the Duomo, take your breath away. This is something altogether different. Part of it is just a progression in building materials and techniques allowing for more open construction and bigger windows but, really, this is all about the architect, Gaudi.

It starts outside, where exterior surfaces have been put to work telling the story of Jesus’ life. Each side is different, richly carved and finished with trademark Gaudi touches like colored tile, lizards, and trees.

Then you enter, and inside you find not the thick gothic pillars and secluded chapels you expect, but a soaring, light-filled space crafted to evoke the feeling of being in a forest.

Like most things on a grand scale, pictures only convey so much. I will say this though, after walking through it once, I had to go back inside for another look, which is about the highest praise I can give it.

Now our day starts to get a little weird. Having been on our feet for a while, we decide to take a break for a little “communion”. OK, it is chips and sangria, but you get the idea and the view is pretty good.

On a side note, just across the street from the Sagrada Familia someone thought it would be a good idea to open a dick waffle shop. Out of courtesy (read some kind of arm twisting), part of the sign has been blanked out so that it is just called “Waffle”, but still. Anyway, I digress.

Above me in the trees is this bloated fellow…

…and, as I raise my glass to take a drink, a turd the size of a eyeball splashes down directly in the center. Gross, I know, but when I consider the odds that I could place a deuce into a moving Home Depot bucket from height of twenty feet without even brushing the rim, I can’t help but consider my surroundings. Divine intervention, or just an uncanny coincidence? You be the judge.

With a newfound feeling of indestructibility (and a fellow traveller who seems a little bit tipsy), we head off on foot to stroll along the beach and catch the arial tram across the bay for a bird’s eye view of the city.

After everything else we have seen and experienced today, it feels a little anti-climatic but is probably one of those things we would have always wished we did had we skipped it. It sums up our Barcelona visit perfectly though – glad we did it, don’t need to do it again.

Off to Southern Spain tomorrow.