A Day in Barcelona

We only had one afternoon and evening in Barcelona before we had to board the cruise ship at the harbor.  We walked through the streets near our hotel and found that we were only a few blocks from one of the most amazing and interesting feats of architecture on earth - The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, commonly known as the Sagrada Família.

 

The Sagrada Família is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). It has been under construction since 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style—combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. When Gaudi died in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with an anticipated completion date of 2026, the hundred year anniversary of Gaudi's death.

The line to see the interior of the cathedral had a wait time of over two hours, so we contented ourselves with walking around the exterior, which was amazing!

So many different styles of architecture in just one building.

The front of the cathedral has sculptures of fruits and vegetables on the spires.

 There are elevators that go up these spires to the top of the cathedral.

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The evening before we headed out on the cruise we were able to find the "Bullet" building  in Barcelona.  About a half hour after sunset, the building lights up and changes colors throughout the night.

The next morning as we headed to the harbor we passed by the street where the Gaudi designed apartments were - totally a surprise!  We had no idea they were so near our hotel, so we were thrilled that we got to see them up close.