Beautiful Barcelona

I’ll start right off by saying that Barcelona is one place both of us definitely want to come back to. We loved it here!

Originally we had signed up for a bicycle tour of the city, and were very disappointed when we were notified of that tour’s cancellation. We looked at what else was available and decided to concentrate on the works of the architect Antonio Gaudi. After viewing his creations, it’s easy to see how the term “gaudy” was derived from his name. One of his buildings, La Pedrera, was a multi-family home that highlights Gaudi’s undulating design.

Probably his most famous work, La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family Church) was begun in 1882 and was unfinished at the time of his death in 1926. It remains a work in progress. Our tour guide said that recent predictions call for construction to be complete by 2030, but she thinks it will take at least another 10 years beyond that based on the pace of the work to date.

Here you can see the massive interior, which is expected to accommodate 11,000+ people upon completion.

Another Gaudi project, Guell Park, was a type of master planned community, but like the church was in progress at the time of his death. Unlike the church, however, additions have not been made. The area has 3 homes (out of a planned total of 60), walkways, fountains and a grand entrance. In the photo below, we were looking out through the entrance to the city of Barcelona beyond.

This mosaic dragon fountain was very popular, especially with the kids.

We ended up being very happy with our Gaudi tour. We realized that the cancellation of our bicycle tour was probably a good thing when we heard the weather forecast this morning: 100 degrees! That air conditioned bus (in between stops) felt mighty good.