Barcelona Day 2

First stop of the morning was the famous street La Ramblas. It was full of tourists and stalls on the side of the street selling souvenirs. All we could think about was the van that drove through this street killing people and we wanted to head to a different part of the city instead. It was at that point we came across the Boqueria market which we didn't know was here but it was on our list of things to do. It was similar to the one we had been to in France but there were a lot more meat stalls with some strange rat/small dog thing that had been skinned. We had no idea what it was but it didn't look overly tasty! We brought a wrap and a sandwich for lunch plus a container of fruit since we would be at the Park Guell around lunch time. The time went fast and we realised we would have to head towards it already since our ticket was for 12pm entry and it was 11am. Since Park Guell is so far away we had to take the metro there and walk up a hill to where it sits over looking the city. 

We had brought tickets a couple of days ago so we knew we could enter between 12-1230pm. Since we arrived early we walked around part of the free park before lining up for our time slot. We were let in at 12 on the dot and there wasn't many others with our time slot at this entrance. What we didn't know was there were sooo many more and most people were probably at the main entrance since they let 400 people in for each time slot. We were given a map in English and set off into the park. The first thing we walked to was the main entrance with the two pavilions that formed the porters lodge either side of the main steel gates. Both had a mosaic clad roof and one of them you could enter and the other was a gift shop. The wall took you up some stairs with mosaics either side to the hippostyle room which had 86 striated columns that lead to inverted dome ceilings with mosaics. Walking up the stairs you can get up on top of the hippostyle room have a view from the top with more mosaics lining the wave of the wall stopping you from falling down. After this you walked through a rock archway and that was the end of the park tour. We were a bit disappointed to be honest and it wasn't as large and impressive as we thought. Since we had brought lunch with us we found a park bench out of the way of all the masses of Chinese tourists to eat before heading toward the Sagrada Familia. I had mostly demolished my wrap when we were told that we wernt allowed to eat and we needed to leave. Lew hadn't started lunch at this point as he was too busy videoing me eating mine and we were a bit annoyed since it doesn't say on the signs that this isn't allowed. We queried this when we left and they said we could go buy a drink at their restaurant and eat there also but we didn't want to do that. Feeling frustrated and missing little old NZ that doesn't have many silly rules we left finding a park bench just outside.

By this stage it was only 1pm and we had managed to view the park within half an hour and we had until 3.30pm till we needed to be at the Sagrada Familia. Figuring we had a bit of time to kill we walked to another one of Gaudis famous buildings Casa Batllo which took about 30 minutes. Whilst an incredible design it was squashed amongst other buildings and didn't really stand out as much as when we google searched it the other day. Feeling a tad let down we moved onto the Sagrada Familia which was bound to be more awe inspiring. This took us about another 30 minutes and our legs were certainly starting to complain. Each time we stopped I probably looked a little stupid trying to do calf/quads stretches whilst holding onto a side of a bus stop or pole! We arrived much too early at about 3pm so headed into a place for a drink and possibly some tapas. We got a strawberry mojito and the food would take to long so we ditched that idea. Was that really a good idea though drinking and not eating this early in the afternoon? The drink however wasn't as good as yesterday and was so strong that we ended up buying another fizzy drink and adding it in just to dilute it down. We left having numbed the pain of our legs and feeling slightly giddy with just half a glass of alcohol each...score for being lightweights! With our ticket we were able to enter straight away at 3pm after a quick bag check and a "are you carrying any knives?" question - who would say yes even if they were?! It was busy all around the building as everyone had their selfie sticks out getting that Insta worthy photograph. Walking inside was mind blowing with the 60m ceiling above us held up by large pillars with tree like branches connecting to the ceiling almost as though you were looking at a stone forest of palm trees. The four largest pillars were made out of red Iranian porphyry (a volcanic rock) and these were surrounded by other pillars of varying sizes and materials to hold the structure upright. On the right side was red, yellow and orange stain glass windows that at this time of the day were streaming beautiful coloured light through them painting the entire church. On the left were the blue and green stain glass windows that would pick up the morning sunlight. Underneath the church there was a crypt where Gaudi was buried but you were unable to get down there as they were holding a service. We visited the museum which was under the church and showed you the progression of the building over the years and models of the end designs. They still had heaps to build considering there is only 9 years left until the "goal" dead-line of 2026 or the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi's death.About 75% has been constructed in some 130 years and they were expected to complete the remaining 25% in 9 years which is unlikely even with the modern technology!

The Sagrada will have three different façades of which two have already been built. So far you can see the Nativity façade which is the main entrance and first to be constructed between 1894- 1930 (This is the one that looks like its been melted in the microwave). It is dedicated to the birth of Jesus and faces the rising sun to symbolise this. There is a xmas tree like structure above the door that is the Tree of Life and the four towers which complete the façade are each dedicated to four saints (Matthias the Apostle, Saint Barnabas, Jude the Apostle and Simon the Zealot). The other façade you can see is the Passion façade which was begun in 1954. It is plain compared to the Nativity façade but was made to be dedicated to the pain and suffering of Jesus during his crucification. It faces the setting sun as a symbol of the death of Christ. Gaudi wanted this façade to instil fear on its onlookers due to its harsh bone like columns and sharp angles. Finally there is the Glory façade which was started in 2002 and is intended to be the largest and most striking of the three façades. However, there isn't much to see as of yet but once completed this will become the new main entrance. It is dedicated to the Celestial Glory of Jesus as represents the road to God - Death, Final Judgement and Glory. Hell is left for those who deviate from Gods will. For this to be completed the apartment blocks on either side of the road will need to be demolished and these are slowly being brought back off the people living there. So perhaps when we come back someday it will be finished!

After feeling like we had seen it all in the museum and our alcohol blanket was starting to wear off hence the feet were beginning to get sore again. We cheated taking the metro home since it was about an hours walk away and curled up on the couch for a bit with a cup of tea. We managed to book some more accomodation in Italy before heading out to a burger place two minutes walk away called Bocoa in the district of El Born. We would highly recommend this place and Lewis the burger guru gave it the big thumbs up. They had three different types of buns and accommodated for dairy free stuff and not to mention the burger tasted fantastic! We walked around the rest of El Born checking out the local shops and burning off our burgers before spending the rest of the night back at the apartment. We did have our Airbnb hosts tiny pooch aka a Chihuahua called Mia to keep us company after all.