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
|
