"Barcelona, Spain 2nd June"
"Mike and Evalyn arriving at Barcelona."
"Looking for the metro.
"Segrada Familia complete with construction towers (shame really) needed to complete the basilica and build the extra pinnacles. At the time of Gaudí's death (1926), less than a quarter of the project was complete; finally, it appears that the project will carry on until its completion in 2026."
"On the left, the portal of Charity, under both the Wise Men and the shepherds. Often called the Temple of the Holy Family, the original design was to be a traditional Gothic church but the original designer resigned shortly after it had been started, and Gaudi obtained permission from the catholic church to change the design. "
"Marion and Ed. Gaynor - oh no I can't believe it's so hot, take me back to the Aurora."
"That's better."
"The girls."
"‘Padlock fences’ typical in Paris along the River Seine, a craze that seems to have caught on here with a number of padlocks binding together loved ones on one of the fences at Parc Guell. We saw this wall on our way to the Parc and why not brighten up a concrete wall with a bit of grafiti; not quite Banksy but love it. "
"A fantastic view of the city from the top of the Parc."
"Look how the Segrada Familia dominates the landscape, towering above everything else. Gaudí was killed on June 26th 1926 after getting hit by a trolley car in Barcelona, just shy of his 74th birthday. Construction is expected to be completed in 2026 — the centennial of Gaudí's death."
"Sitting at the bottom of the cross within Parc Güell an old blues guitarist played, supposedly surrounded by a bunch of kittens(??). No-one in our group braved the climb up to the top of the cross mainly due to the lack of guard rails around the rickety pathway; Jane started but turned back. I'm sure the view across the city would have been worth it."
"The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell. This is one of two houses built for sale and is known as 'Casa Martí Trias i Domènech'.
"This is the second of the two houses and when no-one bought it Gaudi himself did and lived in it virtually alone for 20 years. It overlooks the park where some of the colourful buildings are just visible. This house is now a museum of Gaudi's work."
"The 197 ft tall monument to Christopher Columbus at the lower end of La Rambla, constructed for the Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888) in honor of Columbus' first voyage to the Americas. It is said to depict Columbus pointing towards the New World with his right hand, while holding a scroll in the left. Each of the statues around the base has an interesting story; the statue of Columbus is in bronze."
This was our first visit to Barcelona and we had a couple of objectives to achieve during our day there. Firstly we agreed to make our way to the Segrada Familia which is of course the famous unfinished church designed by Antoni Gaudí. It seems amazing that the construction started under Gaudi's supervision in 1882 and has only very recently received planning permission to be completed. The construction permit granted to the Roman Catholic church will last until 2026, with the builders aiming to complete the basilica within this time period. There is truly nothing like this design in the world and it is a UNESCO world heritage site; personally although amazing I think it's way OTT and not to my taste.
We had made our way to the Segrada Familia by metro under Nick's guidance (he had an app on his phone) and after a refreshing beer we then made our way (by metro again) to our second objective 'Park Güell' another of Gaudi's creations. The park was built from 1900 to 1914 and was officially opened as a public park in 1926. In 1984, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site under "Works of Antoni Gaudí". When finished it should look something like the following model of the Segrada Familia(click).
Having come out of the metro we followed directions to the park and as we rounded the corner into the Avinguda del Santuari de Sant Josep de la Muntanya, ahead of us was a series of 4 escalators to take us up the hill to the park. Unfortunately only one was working and to make matters worse Nick was nearly pickpocketed on the way up. However, having arrived we somehow missed the actual entrance and really only saw the area around the park itself, which is a shame having had a look online at what we missed at Park Güell. Anyway we were all kna....ed by this stage and glad to get back down the hill, have some refreshments and make our way back (by metro) to the ship...another time maybe? On the way back to the shuttle we passed the monument to Christopher Columbus on the sea-front.