Gaudi’s Barcelona

November 29

Charlotte:

We got up early and then we went to Sagrada Familia. In the park across the street from it, we witnessed someone trying to steal a man’s backpack. Mom stopped him, but now we really want to be careful with our stuff. There are lots of pickpockets here.

Anyways, Sagrada Familia is still under construction (and has been for over 100 years). It was so beautiful and gigantic. We got our tickets to go inside, and we also got an audio guide. The guide actually started with a few places on the outside. We learned that there are three different facades (fancy entrances). The first one is called the Nativity facade. It is about Jesus’ birth. There are lots of statues for the different scenes from the Bible. This was the only side that Gaudi actually got to make before he died.

Once we entered, it was so pretty! It was nothing like any other church I’ve been in. There were lots of pillars that looked like trees.

On different sides of the walls there were different stained glass: one side had cold colors the other side hot colours. The hot colors represented his death and the cold colors represented his birth. At noon, the nuns said their prayers and sang “Ave Maria.” I wasn’t feeling so well so I had a little nap while went at in the pews to listen.

We looked at some things like the crypt where Gaudi is buried, but we couldn’t go in we just looked from far away. The problem was it says you have to be completely silent but many people were speaking. It was really sad because no one obeyed.

That day the sun was reflecting today off the hot colors. They were so pretty, shining so brightly and so nicely. We tried to get lots and lots of pictures, but none of them actually looks like the real thing. It was divine.

We saw special doors that will go to the third facade about the seven deadly sins and the seven heavenly virtues. It is called the “Hope” facade, but it hasn’t been built yet.

We ended the tour by going out of the Glory doors that represented Jesus’ death.

Sam:

Then we went back to the Mercado de la Boqueria to get some food for a lunch picnic.

After eating, we went back to the central square, where we went on our second tour of Barcelona. This time, we went on the “Gaudi and modernism” tour.

We walked along the main street with the guide, Vera, and we came to our first stop. It was a row of houses that were designed by three different architects: Gaudi, Puig, and Montaner. They were all beautiful, but Gaudi’s was the best house because it had the story of the town (the legend of St. George) inside of the actual front. The dragon’s scales were on the roof, there was a sword/chimney in the dragon’s scales and a rose balcony.

We then walked to another house designed by Gaudi, with the nickname “The Stone Quarry.” It was on a corner of the street and was designed to look like mountains. This one did not please the people who asked Gaudi to design it. Gaudi was so popular at the time that in order to hire him, you had to agree to his terms, which were that you had no say in the design and no set budget. Basically, he could do whatever he wanted and charge you however much he wanted! And people kept hiring him!

We then took the subway back to Sagrada Familia where we learned quite a bit more about it, such as the tallest tower (aka the Jesus tower) will be half a metre shorter than the mountain in Barcelona because Gaudi believed that humans shouldn’t make things bigger or better than God did.

Another architect worked on the “Glory” facade that represents Jesus’ death. In the section that shows Jesus on the cross, the Catholic Church originally wanted the architect to change it. Jesus is naked in the sculpture. The architect actually needed to write a whole book about his design choices, especially that one, and then the Catholic Church finally accepted it.

We also learned that many different architects have worked on it and used their own design ideas, but the overall plan is Gaudi’s. During the Spanish civil war, Gaudi’s plans were destroyed, but there had been parts of it published in newspapers over time, and that’s how architects today know what to do.

Also, the Sagrada Familia would have been destroyed during that war, but it had a little bridge built into the facade that was a useful lookout point, so the building was spared.

November 30

Sam:

Today is the day we took the train to Sevilla. We got all of our stuff ready then took a cab to the train station, where we decided to go somewhere else while we were waiting. Mom stayed with the luggage while we went to the…

Charlotte:

BEACH!!!

We had to take a train and a bus. When we got there, there were lots of people selling stuff, like carpets and souvenirs. Then I started burying my feet in sand. My dad told Sam and I that the sand was brought over from Egypt. Before the Olympics was here in 1992, there wasn’t a beach in Barcelona. Every year now, they bring over new sand from Egypt. We also felt the water. It was a little chilly, but warmer than most oceans.

We came back to the train station to meet Mom and checked out a big, weird sculpture. It was actually a park! We went into the station to get Mom and took her outside to show her the surprise playground. We played and picnicked for awhile before our train came.

Sam:

We went back inside to get to the train, and it was a very looooooooong train ride. Five and a half hours on a train! At least it was a speed train. The distance between Barcelona and Sevilla is 1000km.

When we arrived, we walked to our AirBnB because we didn’t want to sit down some more.