July 31, 2010: Barcelona Death March

Today Jaume, Josep and I headed to Barcelona to see everything there was to see, in one day. We started off on the mountain of Tibidabo, which gave us a good panoramic view of the city and the harbor.

From there, it was off to Sagrada Familia (Holy Family), a cathedral that will one day be the most stunning church in the world.

Just not today.

It was started by Gaudi, the man who designed the house we saw the other day. When he was given his certificate to practice architecture, the school said that they weren't sure whether they'd just graduated a genius or a madman. Perhaps both.

He started construction in 1883, and the "scheduled" completion is 2026. We'll see. He died before the completion of the Nativity Facade, depicting the birth of Christ. He also left no plans for the rest of the cathedral, which isn't a surprise since he never made any. Build by the seat of his pants, I'd say. The Passion Facade is complete, as is the shell of the main sanctuary.

Honestly, words can't describe the immense beauty and creativity of the building. I'm not much for organized religion, but it has certainly inspired its share of art and architecture.

One editorial comment. Josep and Joan keep calling me Japanese, since I'm taking pictures of anything that will stay still long enough. And then there's the whole thing about looking like a tourist. But on the way to Sagrada Familia, Josep, wearing a Boston Celtics jersey and sporting an enormous camera around his neck, was beckoned onto a double-decker tour bus. Score! Who looks like a tourist now, Pepi??

After lunch, we made our way up a San Francisco-level hill to Parc Guell, also designed by Gaudi. It was supposed to be a housing project, but it failed. The city bought it at some point along the way and turned it into a park. The houses at the entrance are of Hansel/Gretel quality.

By this point, we had been at it for about six hours, we made it downtown for a quick look at La Boqueria St Josep, a popular market. We only made it through the meat, fish and vegetable aisles, but you can see the displays. If I lived here...

Then on to Montjuic for another panoramic view from the Mediterranean side of the city. For a city that was once criticized as not having a natural harbor, looks good to me.

We drove out through the Olympic site, but there was some sort of competition going on, so we couldn't have stopped if we wanted to; I DID, however, get a picture of the Olympic torch... the one the dude lit with a flaming arrow from the playing field. Look that one up on youtube!

I'm home now. The plan was to go to a jazz concert, but I'm worn out. The parents went off to do that alone.

Til tomorrow....