Barcelona

Our trip to Barcelona with friends Gordon and Lettie MacCleery was a little difficult to get started.  The French transportation workers decided to strike about a week before our planned trip.  We had confirmed train reservations, which were cancelled because of the strike.  We knew this a few days before we were supposed to leave, so Lettie got busy and found us flight reservations instead.  Meanwhile, Lorraine worked on getting our money back from the cancelled train trips.  Both were successful!

So we flew to Barcelona without incident (except for the fact that we could have only one carry-on bag instead of a bag and a personal item).  With only a minor problem we stuffed my loaded backpack into our two carry-ons and boarded our flight.  Our window-seat partner got some great pictures of our dusk approach to Barcelona.

Our first morning was devoted to a visit to the Sagrada Familia, the fabulous Basilica designed by Antoni Gaudi, which is under construction and currently expected to be completed buy 2026.  I had seen many pictures of this structure and was excited to actually see it.  I was blown away!  From the pictures I had seen, I thought it was a relatively small structure with whimsical exterior decoration.  I had no knowledge of the interior.   I learned that my prior understanding of the structure was way off the reality.  I also didn’t realize that Gaudi was not a more modern architect.  He lived from 1852 to 1926.  There was only one portal and four of the seventeen towers completed before he died – tragically from being run over by a tram. 

The building is spectacular!. It is already much higher than I realized, and the main high tower does not yet exist. 

We entered the basilica through the Nativity portal, the first one completed, and the one I have seen most in photographs.  Gaudi consistently used natural forms, and the effect on the Nativity portal is that some of it looks like it is melting.

It was not until I entered the basilica that I began to understand the scale.  It is very large and very high.  The effect is of being in a forest of columns.

The stained-glass windows are glorious.  One side of the nave looks like it is on fire with orange glass, while the other side is of much cooler blues.

The other stained-glass windows are also gorgeous.

We had arranged to go up in one of the towers.  This trip started with an elevator ride that went up as far as possible in the narrow tower.  We were let out into a very small enclosed space and then climbed steps to get higher.  There was one narrow fenced spot where you could walk out and see the tops of the other towers and the surrounding area.

We then finished the climb up the steps and went into a circular stairway to take the 400 steps all the way down to the floor.  As an old person with balance issues, I had to keep tight control of my incipient anxiety. 

Lorraine, happy to finish the descent.

We walk a lot in Lyon and climb lots of steps so I didn’t expect a problem, but I hate to say how much my quads hurt the day after our visit to La Sagrada Familia and our climb down the 400 steps.

I’ll add a few more pictures of the basilica, just because it made such an impression on me.  I highly recommend a visit.

We exited through the Passion Facade.

Judas kissing Jesus

After our tour of Sagrada Familia, we made our way to La Rambla, a mostly pedestrian street lined with kiosks and flower shops that leads all the way down to the harbor. 

We stopped at the Boqeria open market.  This is huge and has any foodstuffs you could possibly want.  It was quite impressive.

They take their jambon very seriously in Spain.

We make time for a pitcher of Sangria.

We then made our way down to the harbor, with its marina, its statue of Christopher Columbus facing out to the sea, and some amazing architecture.

The next day we started with a tour of La Pedrera, an apartment building designed by Gaudi and considered one of his finest works.  While it isn’t obvious from the outset why that would be true, the tour totally convinced me of its revolutionary nature.  From the outside it looks typically whimsical and appealing.  What you learn is that there is nothing casual or unplanned anywhere. 

Gaudi used forms from nature which deviate from the rectangular solids that were the norm for buildings of the day.  He didn’t have access to computers, obviously (He died in 1926.) so he had to use empirical methods to verify the engineering integrity of his designs.  There are no walls in the whole building that are load-bearing.  The whole structure is supported by interior girders. 

The roof is like a sculpture garden of ancient warriors.  Each of them has a purpose – usually a vent or smokestack.

Under the roof is an attic which is covered with a series of arches which are inverted catenaries which support the roof without any extra supports and allow for open space.  A catenary is the curve that is assumed when something affected by gravity (think telephone wire) is supported between two fixed points (think the tops of telephone poles). While I understand the curve, I didn’t know that when inverted it made for an efficient arch to support weight. When built, this attic served as work or play space for drying clothes, or keeping children occupied on a rainy day. It now is a museum.

Gaudi would make hanging models using chain or weighted strings to show the shape of the catenaries he desired, then look at them in a mirror to see the inverted structure.  I have inverted a picture of a hanging model to show the effect.

As you may be able to tell, I was greatly impressed with the engineering aspects of Gaudi’s work – more so than the whimsical (though not random) decorative parts.

We got to another famous building of Gaudi’s, but didn’t have time to take the tour.  This is one that was a renovation, rather than a new construction.  It would have been interesting to learn more about it, but the façade is quite interesting. 

There were other examples of Barcelona architecture along the street that were fascinating. 

Barcelona is a fascinating city!