Photos, photos, and more photos!! After finishing my races in Barcelona, I did a lot of site-seeing with my friends. The architecture was beautiful and the beaches had water so clear it looked like it was Aquafina. They say you don't need to be a good photographer in Spain because everything is so scenic that all of your pictures will turn out beautiful. Decide for yourself...
What I wanted to visit most... Sagrada Familia. This is the church that is famous because it has been under construction since the 1800s and is not scheduled to be finished until mid-21st century. I understood what is taking them so long once I got there. The church is the most beautiful church I have ever seen and probably the most beautiful that I will see as long as I live. When we visited, no one was working on the church. My friends and I decided that it's probably a matter of safety with all of the tourists that work is done on the church only by night or on days when the church is not open to the public. The church is so tall that it can be seen from far away, rising above all of the other buildings... take a look:
As you can see, the church is still under construction.
The church is massive in size and so elegant.
We had to wait in a LONG line to go inside the church and this was the view across the street. I find it interesting how each section of apartments is unique.
The side of the church from the line we waited in.
A smaller scale model of the church
The detailing in the stone was indescribable.
The towers seemed as though they reached the sky. I read about them, but I don't remember exactly. The different heights of towers represent different things, but all in all it's supposed to symbolize the church reaching up to the heavens (I think).
Above the doors to enter the church. (Again with the detailing!! Incredible!)
Jesus
Literally HUNDREDS of stained glass windows. They are all brilliant and shine rainbows onto the stone floor.
Even the towering ceilings were GREATLY detailed.
Again, the stained glass windows were incredible.
Here's to show what I mean by HUNDREDS of stained glass windows.. there are 6 of each of these 'sections' on each side of the church, plus more in the nooks and crannies behind the alter and up higher.
Here are the unfinished windows... hence why the church isn't scheduled to be finished until midway through this century (maybe even longer).
Here is the elevator and staircase up one of the towers.
This is at the back of the church. It said that it was positioned accordingly so that the back of the church would let in the most light toward the altar (I'm assuming during the morning hours when mass would occur).
The altar with a skylight above and the bottom of the picture shows a sculpture/chandelier above the altar.
Even the floor is detailed...
A closer picture of the altar and skylight
The sculpture/chandelier above the altar
Panorama of the front of the church
A panorama of the ceiling (Left to right, not front to back)
Me, Claire, and Constance in the church!
There's even a basement... I swear this place could house millions
More of the basement.. We took pictures from the ground level because we weren't allowed below. These pictures were taken from windows behind the altar that look down on this room. This room sits just below and slightly behind the main room.
Incredible.
Rainbow!
The skylight above the altar. This is also symbolic (as most of the building is in some way), but I can't remember why.
A better view of the room in the basement
The Apostles' Creed
(Panorama) They had the Apostles' Creed in both Spanish (left) and English (right).
Detail EVERYWHERE.
You can't find a single thing that isn't detailed to the smallest point.
I want these windows in my home.
Holy water
And the most incredible part... the amazing stone work
If I were carving these.. I would have gotten tired and frustrated long before it was finished.
I don't even know how they did all of this...
Seriously ridiculous how much detailing there is.
Panorama so you can (kind of) see how much stone detail there is just on this one small edge of the outside of the church.
More details
Constance, Claire, and me in front of the church
The crazy guy who decided to build this church. Apparently he spent the last few months of his life on his death bed IN THE CHURCH making plans for the workers to carry on with the construction of the church. He planned every last detail so that very few changes have been made to his original plans.
Here is where they build the models of what hasn't been created in real life quite yet.
With new technology, it's a lot faster and a lot easier.
These pictures show the progression of the building of the church. This was sometime in the 1800s, I believe.
A closer look..
Making progress..
And this photo shows when the church was full when the Pope visited. So even though it is still under construction, it is used.
We saw many other sites in Barcelona as well. I might mention that I don't have all of the pictures on my camera because Constance (my French friend) took some on her camera. Here are some of the other sites we saw, things we ate, etc...
First.. Lunch at Arc de Triomphe (Espana)
Arc de Triomphe!! (This is the Spanish one... hopefully I will see the French one as well) This was the view from the little restaurant we stopped at for a small lunch.
They called this "tortilla and salad"... Well it wasn't what I would call a tortilla. It was more like cheesy potatoes, but my French friends described it as an omelet. I guess it has eggs in there (I didn't taste them though).
We just had a small salad for lunch as we had a lot of sights we wanted to see and we were snacking all along the way.
Arc de Triomphe (Espana)
If you notice the people, you can get an idea for just how big it is.
Again, the Spaniards and their detailing. Makes me want to live in Spain where they care so much about the view and the architecture. All of the buildings are equally beautiful.
Let's just say it was a hot day...
The view from the street through the arc
Palm trees lining the street through the arc
(More palm trees)
So beautiful.
A view from afar
After the Arc de Triomphe, we walked through the streets of Barcelona... this is what I mean by all of the buildings are beautiful:
Tall buildings line all of the roads
A pedestrian walkway between the buildings.. complete with greenery and benches.
Just a building..
Everything is so beautiful!!
Even their graffiti doesn't look half bad.
The inside lobby of a theatre (through a window)
The ticket box! So cute!
Typical buildings..
Check out the building on the left... those dark circles on it?
Yeah I have no idea what they are. There were just a bunch of black spheres in the front of this building. They looked like security cameras, but how impractical if they were? (I checked, it wasn't a building for a security company or a bank or something like that.)
Just another detailed building, per usual.
More streets of Barcelona
We stopped for Gelato!! Starting on the left and going clockwise: Mango, Stratiacello, Tiramisu, and Coconut. The best ice cream I have ever had. So good.
City Center!!
The next day, we took on the beach. We stopped for a quick bite to eat along the harbor...
Tapas with the girls. Tapas is a traditional Spanish 'snack', I guess. Constance and Claire told me that Spaniards eat about every 2 hours and this is what they eat. (About equivalent to what we call appetizers.) I could live with eating every 2 hours... oh wait, I already do that.
Here is the view from our restaurant.
Tapas! (left to right, up to down, as best I can):
the long crispy things at the top right: like chicken tenders
the ball in the middle: its alike a gooey ball of ham and cheese with breading
middle left: shrimp & bread
middle right: calamari
bottom left: "tortilla" (cheesy potatoes) and bread with tomato sauce
bottom right: cod
Public transport...
These guys had things to sell to tourists in their bags (purses, sunglasses, etc.)
Panorma of the beach (on a cloudy day). This was the Mediterranean Sea.
The sand sparkled like gold in the sun and the sparkly pieces stuck to your skin when you got out of the water as though you had grown golden scales while in the Sea.
I looked like a mermaid.
Just our feet covered in sand except for our toe nail polish.. only a girl would understand.
You can do your exercise on the beach..
The sun decided to show up later in the day!
More gelato (of course) This time: strawberry, chocolate, and passionfruit.
The sunset from the hotel balcony.
I still have 1 or 2 more days left of Barcelona pictures, but it's about time I hit the hay. I will post the rest of the pictures soon. I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow in Paris. Bonne nuit!!!
