Well one's thing for sure - when we agree the night before to take it easy and sleep in the next morning, we don't mess around! Although Tibby only slept in until 10am - which is still pretty late, mind you, I slept soundly until noon. Obviously we were a little more than tired and even though we got a later start to our day in Barcelona, it was definitely what our weary bodies needed!
So, once we did finally tumble out of bed, we decided to head for Sagrada Familia - the gorgeous, huge cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi - the famous Catalan architect. First, though, we had to figure out the slightly complex metro system, but eventually we emerged from the labyrinthian depths and found ourselves staring up at the massive church!
It was sooooooo big! And no matter what you think it might look like from pictures, you really have no idea until you are standing beneath it and have a chance to grasp all the details of the crazy, innovative, organic architecture. At times it even seemed the walls were moving with all the plant-like decorations and leafy carvings. We probably just stood there, gaping at one side of it for a good 15 minutes before we decided to walk around the whole thing.
When we did finally make it to the other side, we were again amazed at the unique, odd, and beautiful architecture! The sculptures on this side were very cubist and unlike anything I or Tibby had seen in any of the Renaissance or Gothic art so far. It was so cool to look at! There were also these thick, bronze doors which led you into the entrance (we had to wait quite a while in the crazy long line to get in - but it was totally worth it!) and they were covered with words taken from Scripture - but in Spanish of course. Some words were even more pronounced or gilded and it just created this really cool effect. Again, unlike anything I'd seen before!
And then the inside....wow!!!
Neither of us had ever seen pictures of the Cathedral from the inside so we really had no idea what to expect. Frankly, I'm glad we were in the dark - it made the experience even more breathtaking!
As soon as you walked in you were completely overwhelmed with how HIGH the ceiling was! It nearly felt like you were walking into a forest full of giant trees and hanging vines and a leafy, glittering canopy of foliage! Even the stained glass - many of which were simple shapes but in all shades of the rainbow - resembled sunlight seeping through flower petals. It was all just soooooo beautiful!! And did I mention how HUGE it was?! It took us a good long while to actually walk around the interior space and even then I still couldn't get a grasp on how big the structure was. Also, it was nothing like the cathedrals we had visited before and perhaps that's what really was most interesting - trying to reconcile such a big, colorful space with our European idea of a holy Cathedral. But it was so beautiful, no one could say Gaudi took any shortcuts when it came to a house for his Lord.
T here, and I just gotta "ditto" everything Kyla said about Sagrada Familia...it really was so unique and astounding. Truly something marked off my bucket list! Woot!!
So after picking our jaws off the ground and un-cricking our necks, we moved on from the cathedral in search of another architectural masterpiece by Gaudi - the Casa Mila. It took longer than we expected, and more wrong turns that we had to correct before we finally wound our way through the streets to reach the Casa Mila! But we did eventually find it! Score for us! Anyways, along our lengthy walk, we did catch a few sights, such as this really unique tower called Tower Agbar.
Anyways, the Casa Mila is actually better known as La Pedrera (which means "The Quarry" in Spanish). It was completed in 1912, initially built for a somewhat scandalous couple. In the 100 years of it's existence, it has largely been used as an apartment building. It has also been added to the UNESCO World Heritage site list. Pretty stinkin' awesome!
After staring up at the interesting apartment building, we then decided to head a bit out of the main city - but still to another tourist attraction - Park Guell. (The "u" is supposed to have those two little dots above it, but I can't get this computer to do that). It took a few metro ride, and quite the hike up a long hill, but we finally arrived! I'm not really sure how to accurately describe this park other than to show you lots of pictures! But basically, this park unique in that it is where Gaudi lived for a while. His house is still pretty cool looking. But, the coolest part is that there is this huge "over-look" thing that looks out towards the city and then out into the ocean. This over-look is all covered in mosaic. It is FANTASTIC!!!!
Beneath it there are some famous giant 3-D lizard mosaic fountains! Those are quite a piece of work!
As the sunlight was fading, we hiked back down and caught a metro back into another side of town where we were planning to visit the magic fountain. The magic fountain is this huge fountain that only turns on in the evenings because it's accompanied by lights and music! It is situated right in front of what Kyla and I believe to be the Capital building, but we aren't totally sure. So, we arrived there around 9pm ish (having still not eaten dinner!) and strolled around the still quiet fountain, taking pictures of it, and the capital building, in the fading sunlight. By 9:30pm, we found an excellent viewing point to sit down and wait for the fountains to turn on. We really had no idea when they would come one, we just knew that they would. (We had caught a glimpse of them the night before as we were making our way to our hostel). So we sat down and the waiting game began once again. Side note: No one ever really tells you just how much of travel is all about waiting. It seems that you are ALWAYS waiting for something. Waiting in line to buy a train ticket, waiting for your bus to arrive, waiting to get into a desired attraction, waiting for your train to hurry up and get where it's going, waiting for food to be served, or even waiting to check-in to your hostel. Travel seriously involves SO much waiting around.
By this point in our trip, we know we pretty much will be waiting when it comes to everything. So, we've become pretty good at still just going with the flow and being patient. So anyways, we're sitting there, waiting for this fountain to turn on, and time just comes and goes. An hour goes by like nothing...then another half hour passes. It's finally nearing 11 pm, and the fountain is still sitting as calmly as ever. Since we hadn't had dinner yet, our bellies were beginning to get pretty angry with us. So, after waiting for close to two hours, we regretfully gave up our excellent spots and left the fountain behind in search of a late night meal. It took some meandering around the alleyways of our corner of the city before we finally found a place that was not only still open, but wasn't going to be super expensive. And to top it off, it was Indian and Pakistani cuisine! Haha, we did have laugh at ourselves - visiting Barcelona, Spain, and we end up eating middle eastern food. Awesome! But let me tell you, it was oh so delicious and just what our bodies needed! The best part was of course their nan. I think I've had nan before while in Israel, but oh my word. This nan was SO delicious!! It was thick, warm, fluffy and filling! After satisfying the hunger monster, we had to dodge club-goers and guys selling cans of beer on the street before arriving back at our home for the night. All in all, twas a solidly splendid day in Barcelona!
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