Barcelona Day One

11/8-11/9

Ceiling of the Sagrada Família 

This week I went to Barcelona with my friend Clara!!  Since we did a lot of things I will be breaking this blog post into three parts (one for each day’s adventures).  So I don't flood you with a ton of photos (I took over 200)  I will post the best ones...... it will be hard to choose. 

Night One

Food at Chinese Restaurant

Wednesday we spent on the bus for the 8 hour bus ride from Lyon to Barcelona.  The bus was fine, and when we got to Barcelona we were able to find our AirB&B house.  Our host was amazing and he gave us some great advice on places to eat.  For dinner we went to a Chinese food restaurant.  It was so much food!!  I had fried pot-stickers with beef noodle soup.  Clara had pork with soy sauce and a noodle vegetable dish.  I was able to finish the whole meal, but I thought I was going to explode!!!    

Day One!!

In the morning we went to the Sagrada Família first.  It was breath taking to just look at from the outside.  We had a guided tour (if you go, get the guided tour, it was worth the extra money) where we got to hear about the history of the architects (Gaudi), the 

Final Glory side

symbolism of the artwork and different architectural pieces, then the future parts that are being built.  The Basilica is suppose to be finished in 2026, however there is still 60% of the towers left to build.  I was really impressed with how Gaudi designed the basilica.  The guide said that in his original plans factored in the use of electricity several years before electricity was possible.  He had designed a space for lights and elevators inside the Basilica.  

The main symbolism of the architecture is that there are going to be 12 tower one for each of the disciples, four higher towers for the four evangelist (Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John), then the tallest tower represents Jesus.  There is also one tower to represent Mary.  Each side of the Basilica represented a different part of Jesus’s story.  The first was the Nativity scene or life side.  Mary Joseph and baby Jesus are front and center, with the three wise men and shepherds to either side, and angles above.  This side had a lot of sculptures to symbolize life, such as, turtles and vines/flowers. Opposite the Life side was the Passion side depicting the crucifixtion.  This side was designed by a different artist, and has a more modern flare tot he art work.  One of my favorite parts of this side is the sculpture depicting the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.  The artist decided to make a square with numbers in in that no mater which four you chose added up to 33 (the money Judas got for betraying Jesus).  Another sculpture to note is one that has Jesus carrying the cross.  One of the men watching him was sculpted to look like Gaudi, as a commemoration to the Basilica's original architect. The finial side of Glory is not completed yet because they have to tear down the buildings across the street to make room for the grand entrance. 

Side of Life

Clara with a turtle on Life side

Betrayal of Jesus

Passion Side

Stain glass Work

Stain glass on Life side

Communion (the canopy has wheat and grapes)

The symbolism continued inside with the theme of nature and life.  The windows were made of stained glass reflected the position of the sun like it was coming through the canopy of a forest.  Starting on the east side of the building there was stain glass with blue and green colors, This also is the side of life on the outside.  In the middle was just clear glass, is the side of Glory.  Then the sun set side was red, yellow, and orange, which is also to passion side.  To further the forest theme the support columns were made to look like trees.  There are not enough words to express what I felt while on the tour, let alone the pictures that I took.  Clara and I were there for the whole morning before we went to Park Güel.

On our walk to Park Güel we stopped by a sandwich shop called Enrique Tomas to pick of Lunch to eat on the way.  The sandwich was so good!  To get to Park Güel you WILL have to WALK a lot, unless you take a taxi.  Another thing is to buy your tickets before you go to the park because they only let 100 people into the park at a time. However there is a section of the park that you can access for free while you wait to enter the paid part of the park.  Clara and I spent 2 hours exploring the free part of the park and then 1 hour inside the paid part.  This place has some of the best views and a lot of great places to take pictures.  There are some artist and musicians in the free part of the park that you can listen to.  Clara and I had fun taking pictures of each other and adding filters to make them “artistic”.  I highly recommend coming here if you are in Barcelona. 

Musician in the Park

Picture on top of the park

Green house look out on the city of Barcelona

Sunset over Barcelona 

For dinner we went to this restaurant called El Nacional. There were four different restaurants and three bars (two drinking, on oyster) located in the building.  We ate at La Taperia, and had several different types of tapas and some Spanish beer.  I had razor clams that were just as good as ones I have had in Oregon.  For dessert I had this fancy cinnamon role sponge cake called Pionono de Granada.  Day one is all wrapped up...Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Menu for Tapas

Razor clams and Spanish beer

Pionono de Granada