The Basilica and The Walk

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

We docked in Barcelona and had planned our own tour – a visit to the famous La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family) Basilica and a hop-on/hop-off bus tour.

By far, the highlight of Barcelona and perhaps of the entire trip was Sagrada Familia. We had a guided tour for one hour and then some time on our own at the Basilica. There is not enough space to describe the unique and spectacular nature of this church, but I will give it a few sentences.

·       It was designed by Antoni Gaudi and started in1882 (Note: it is still under construction with expected completion date in 2026 – the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi’s death.

·       The basilica has three facades – Nativity, Ascension and the Glory (which will be the front of the church). Each façade has dozens of sculptures built into its enormous (75-100 feet high) and magnificent entry – each with scenes for the birth of Christ (Nativity) and the death and resurrection of Christ (Ascension). The Glory façade is barely underway, but we saw sketches that Gaudi had done over 100 years ago that show how exceedingly magnificent it will be.

·       Upon entering through the nativity façade, one is immediately struck by brilliant – and I mean brilliant – stained glass windows. The next thing that strikes you is the soaring height of the basilica – one of the highest in the world. The next thing that strikes you is that the gigantic pillars of the basilica are not anything like what you see in a traditional cathedral. They are meant to be more like very tall trees with arching branches and foliage at the top to support the roof.

·       The choir loft seats 1000 people.

It is simply impossible to describe in this short note – or perhaps in any written form. It has to be seen to be experienced … and it is truly an extraordinary experience. I would encourage anyone to go on-line and see pictures even if though can only do partial justice.

We ate a delightful, outdoor lunch on the Place de John F. Kennedy. We did our hop-on/hop-off tour, and got off near the port. Our enormous ship could be seen easily and we decided to walk to it from the bus tour drop off point. You know how really big mountains look close to you, but you end up driving for hours before you reach them? Well, really big cruise ships look closer than they actually are, and a two mile walk later, we were back on board our ship.

As we walked the streets of Barcelona, we all had the feeling of a more modern city, very well planned with wide streets and orderly traffic. There was so much more to do and see in Barcelona, but alas, we had to proceed to our next port of call.