Today we did SO much walking! We did and saw so much. Started off at La Sagrada Familia. It is Gaudi's church that has been under construction for nearly 150 years and they don't think it will be finished until the 2050s! For those reading who don't know of or much about Gaudi, you're about to find out. Pretty much our whole day was dedicated to seeing his architecture. The queue was ginormous, I wish all these other tourists would go home! Haven't had any queues pretty much anywhere the whole holiday, it's starting to feel like peak season!!
Anyway, La Sagrada Familia is wonderful. The gothic architecture is so different to anything I've ever seen. And Gaudi is famous for relating his architecture to nature, so the inside was meant to represent a forest. He's buried in the crypt and they are still working on the church according to plans he drew up. Don't know if they will ever finish though!!
Next we went to Parc Güell, a city park with mosaics, sculptures etc by - you guessed it - Gaudi! We went way up the top to a lookout and had a good view of Barcelona. I really enjoyed all the colour of the mosaics here. Anita, took lots of photos for you here because it looked so much like the amazing artwork you produce! We both think you're Gaudi reincarnated! Once again lots of reference to nature such as shells, lizards. I also find it very interesting that Gaudi was fascinated with shapes. There are lots of ellipsoids, parabolas and hyperbolae in his buildings. Brought back bad memories of uni Maths!!
We then walked to three more buildings designed by Gaudi. The first, Casa Vicens, was Arabic in style and again full of colour. Couldn't go in. The second, La Pedreras, was very gothic and had wrought iron balconies and an interesting rooftop with ventilation units designed to look like shells. We had a good view up here!! Also got to see a display about Gaudi, and an apartment he designed. Finally we went to Casa Batllos which was another apartment building designed by Gaudi. This one was sort of underwater themed, lots of blues and smeared glass so you felt like you were underwater. The balconies on this one looked like bones!! Very creative.
Finally we walked to Parc del Citaduella and saw the Arc de Triomphe. Then we ran out of time though, will head back tomorrow.
We speed walked back to the hotel to get ready for our flamenco concert. Our damn key card for our room wouldn't work! I had to go and get it fixed which meant we were running seriously behind schedule for the show. We got a quick dinner and ran to the metro then ran to Palacio del Flamenco. The show was amazing! Lots of fancy and fast footwork and colorful costumes. The free sangria was much appreciated too! We loved it. If you have me on Facebook check out the video I uploaded.
We're now at Mcdonalds, we bought a McFlurry each so we could use the wifi haha! The hotel wifi sucks.
Sooooo tired, so much walking! More tomorrow. And a birthday surprise for Billy too with a tour of Camp Nou (FC Barcelona's stadium). Don't worry Pa, still haven't been converted I promise!!
Love to all,
Claire
Xoxox
Ps: not all photos will fit on one post so see second post too!
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