The Sagrada Familia

Photo credit: funzonecollector.blogspot.com

The last time I was in Barcelona was around 5 years ago.  I visited nearly all the great monuments and touristic sights - the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Plaza Espana, the Picasso museum.  I even took a day trip to Monserrat, which was an hour outside of the city, to see the monastery at the top of that mountain.  I regarded the city as one of the brightest and most beautiful in all of Europe, which was why I was determined for Marco to also experience it before our trip in Europe was over.

However, this time it is even more beautiful than my recollection.  When I was here last, it was in November and during the low season.  That was why many of the monuments were in the midst of repair and I could not enjoy them in their full splendor.  I think early May is perhaps the best time to be here - the high season has just started everything is at its best to welcome guests to the city, but not too many tourists have crowded into the city.  And the weather is just perfect.

We started the trip with visiting... the grocery market.  I'm not kidding!  It was important to get situated, and our apartment is just in a perfect location.  Next door to a convenience store, and within 2 blocks of 3 small supermarkets and a large in-door mercardo which was very similar to that we experienced in Sevilla.  Of course, the fact that we are living in the Barri Gotic, the downtown area of Barcelona, is nothing to be complained about either.

With our kitchen all in order, we set out to explore the city.  First we visited the most famous and celebrated landmark in the entire city, the Sagrada Familia.  It is Gaudi's master work, started towards the end of the 1800s and is not estimated to be fully completed until 40 years from now.  As we approached the massive cathedral, I noticed that huge changes had already occurred since my last visit.  The most remarkable change was that the spiky rooftops were adored with brightly colored, fruit-like ornamentation, totally unique from anything I had ever seen.


The cathedral has 3 main sides; one depicting the birth of Christ, which is swollen and resplendent in details; the second depicts the Passion of Christ and is full of harsh lines and sombre carvings to express the sadness of his passing; and the last is the glory facade, reflecting the coming and the end of mankind, and is yet unfinished.  When I was last here, there was much that was still undone on the Passion facade, and the interior was entirely draped with plastic coverings and piled to the top with scaffolding.

Photo credit: Alamy

No words could describe my amazement at the completeness of the carvings and sculptures on the exterior of the Passion facade, the polish of newness with which everything was finished.  Clearly, everything had a meaning,  from the strange carving of a square box with 9 numbers on one wall, to even the positioning of the facades (birth toward the east, death the west), Gaudi had planned his work down to the very last intricacy.

Photo credit to: Nicola Tomovic

 And when I stepped foot beyond the massive doors, upon which was adorned 40 languages all relaying the same message, I felt chills at the back of my neck.  It was as if I had entered a colossal forest of stone and brilliantly colored glass.  A strange and magical world was before me, almost something straight out of the imagination of Tolkien.







So much was reminiscent of nature, down to the gigantic supporting columns forking like tree branches at the ceiling, and the casing for elevators that curled down like tendrils of vines.

What I loved best were the multi-chromatic stained  glass windows, which were abstract and modern in appearance, and let through streams of warm, colored light that danced on the walls and floor of the church.  Gaudi had painstakingly designed this because he knew the vital importance of light inside the church - it could not be so bright that it blinded, or shroud the place in darkness.

Only through the central sky-light is the bright Mediterranean light allowed to freely shine through.  Tiny pieces of golden mosaic decorate the sky-light, and as they catch the light, the effect illuminates the main crucifix in a soft halo of gold, and the effect is pure magic.

I have always felt much closer to God when I am surrounded by nature than in a church, but this utterly unconventional church is the most perfect merging of the two that I have ever experienced.