Sagrada Familia

Day two of our Gaudi appreciation tour led us to the Sagrada Familia, the incredibly ambitious church Gaudi designed and started in the late 1800s, 25 years before his death. Every concept and technique Gaudi pioneered in his lifetime is a part of this massive project, which is still a work in progress, and is not expected to be completed for another 25 years, making the total build time approximately 130 years.  For a "modern" church, this is unheard of.

The Sagrada Familia is actually functional now - the inside is complete, but some of the towers on the outside have yet to be built.  The current structure already rises high over Barcelona's landscape, but when finished the main spire will be another 50% higher.  Like the other Gaudi buildings, the design makes use of structures and shapes found in nature. Gaudi never liked the "flying buttress" design of Gothic churches, since he considered them a hack to make the building stand up,  so the Sagrada Familia is a self-standing engineering masterpiece.

The kids were resisting going to yet another church, but once we go there and started touring they fully appreciated the amazing design.  Inside the church, the pillars and ceilings form a tree-like structure: the pillars are like tree trunks with branches, and the ceiling has a geometric pattern similar to the canopy in a forest. Words don't do this place justice, so here's a few photos:

After touring we got lunch from a nearby deli, and ate in the park opposite the Sagrada Familia.  Sue and the kids returned home, and I decided to do a little city hike to get some more exercise and justify my next gourmet meal. I located Sant Gervasi park, about ten blocks from our flat, and walked to it.  When I arrived, the park was on a hill, and I climbed up and up until I reached the top.  From there, the views of Barcelona were magnificent - you could see all the major landmarks, as well as the Mediterranean.

For dinner, we decided to explore the Milk Bar in the Gothic quarter, which we had yet to visit. Bryce in particular is finding it hard to locate anything on the menu he likes in a Spanish restaurant that isn't Patatas Bravas, and this place has a more American style menu and was well rated.  My meal was an "ultimate caesar" salad, with a soft boiled egg on top, and bacon pieces underneath a tasty topping of shredded Parmesan. I'm a sucker for any non-breakfast meal with a gloppy egg on it, and this salad didn't disappoint:

Walking back home, we got to explore the Gothic Quarter, and enjoyed peering into the really old establishments with tons of character.  Hopefully we'll be able to return there for one final meal.  This place in particular caught our attention with the rotisserie chicken going right outside.