La Sagrada Familia and the rest of Monday...

After Park Guell, we took the metro to la Sagrada Familia. Reagan decided she didn’t want to pay to go in, but Maureen and I did. And, I am so glad - this is an incredible work of art, albeit unfinished!

You can read more here, but to give a brief overview – construction on this church (which was declared a basilica in 2010) started in 1882 and Gaudi became involved in 1883. He worked on the project until his death in 1926 (he was hit by a tramcar and died 3 days later). Since then, construction was intermittent (especially during the Spanish Civil War), but other architects have taken over the construction using his plans as a guide.

When completed, there will be 18 spires, representing the Apostles, Evangelists, Virgin Mary, and Jesus. There are also three facades depicting the Nativity (constructed 1894 – 1930), the Passion (1954 – 1987), and the Glory (construction began in 2002, but is not yet complete).

These are from the Nativity facade.

The Passion facade

Gaudi was inspired by nature and the inside of the church was designed to represent a forest with the columns of differing heights and much of the internal architecture is based on geometric shapes.

While we were in the church, Reagan headed to the Mercat St Josep La Boqueria and we agreed to meet back at Artesia around 6. Maureen and I got back a bit early, so we quickly walked through the market and agreed to come back the next day (after buying some strawberries to snack on later!), grabbed some gelato, and headed to meet Reagan.

We were all tired and decided to eat dinner early rather than coming back into town later, so we had some tapas and paella (but, it was definitely better the first day).

Heading back to the hotel to rest before a big night out, we found out that during the week, there are only a few good bars/clubs. We got the name of one (and a VIP pass to get us in to boot) and were good to go!

We went out too early (at 11:30 we were the only ones there), but it ended up being a great night of dancing and we met lots of people.

Taken with my self-timer before we went out.

Our bartender at the club - he jumped over the bar to join us in this photo!

We couldn’t believe when 5:00 came and it was time to sleep… Or, when we didn’t wake up until noon the next day and realized what a wild night it had been. But, what happens in Barcelona stays in Barcelona, right!?!