Spain 2

Thursday April 4

Wow, I loved the comments on the bottom of the first blog I posted yesterday. Thank you so much. It means a lot to me. I am looking forward to reading what you enjoy most of what I report  

From the beginning when we had to travel between America and Europe we always would make an effort to “think local time”. Not different this time. We were lucky that the sun was shining when we arrived. That helped. Even though we could check in right away we kept going all day. We felt “normal” when we turned the light of last night and had a good sleep til about 8 am. Wow. 

Breakfast not included in the hotel. When we were ready for the day’s adventure we just stopped across the street. Ah, the European bread!

The girl was making more of the bread. I could see her when we were leaving. She gave me such a pretty smile for a moment. 

Super Mercado, Pharmacia and Fresh Fruit on every block of a street. James got his daily banana. 

We had booked a tour of the La Sagrada Familia at home with Viator. It had been recommended to us. I had to get the App on my telephone etc etc. The booking was for 3 pm. 

We decided that this was the adventure of the day and we sat out to see how far it was to walk. I am so happy using the map on my phone except that it does seem to deplete the battery before the day is over. I do have a power bank though. 

Anyway, it was a nice walk and suddenly there it was. 

Of course I had to try to take a good photo of it all. 

There was a lovely park with blooming trees but walking further back made the trees cover up the basilica. Difficult to find just the right spot. 

We had a lovely interaction with a group from Finland who had asked for me to take a group photo of them in front and we told them how much we had enjoyed visiting there country recently. 

I took so many photos today. What a pain to pick out just a few for the blog. And I might say right away that the photos can’t possibly give a good impression what this building is like. So, so many details. It is just amazing. 

The side we saw first was actually the Passion Side. Scenes from the events of Jesus’ crucifiction.

We walked around to the other side because we wanted to figure out where we had to go for our tour at 3 pm. We walked very slowly though and looked at many of the intricate details. 

The other side had a park too and also a pond. By now there were a lot of people around and also people in uniform asking to see your tickets etc. That’s when I got our ticket information from aviator out and the uniformed people tried to make sense out of it. My phone kept sending me around between email and the App and it started to get worrisome. Some young ladies (in uniform) were very kind and tried to be helpful but it was no use. In-between they had to tell other people that it was totally sold out for the day. 

We finally thanked everybody and stepped away. When I had peace again I tried my phone again, started in the beginning of the booking and it worked this time. I found the tickets in the App and could put them into the “Wallet“. What a relief. 

Time for refreshments. 

There was a lovely street which was heaven for pedestrians. We enjoyed walking it. 

And when it was lunchtime we had tapas. Andalusian calamari and (yeah!) Padron peppers. And when we ordered the latter with happiness our waiter was surprised that we knew them. He was from that region so we had to tell them that we knew them from walking the Camino. We think often about that time. 

We walked to the end of that street and came to this building. We guessed what it might be. Train station was the favorite but it actually is the Sant Pau Hospital. Another interesting building. 

Time to go back for our tour. Our guide with the red flag arrived and all she needed was our names. No tickets necessary. If I had known that earlier I would not have needed to panic. But the people in uniforms: Our bags, pocket contents, watches and belts all were sent through the X-rays but finally…

We were given whispers (gadgets with earplugs to hear the guide) which are great … except these were very static and hard to understand. Still, we had a good experience. 

First we saw this model. All finished parts are gray. What still needs to be done of the building was yellow. Our guide said she thinks there is no chance it can be done by the time it’s forecasted. No, it doesn’t look like it. 

The toughest part about this blog? To decide which few of the many photos to use. So much detail. All with so much background, information and meaning. 

And then we went inside. 

I don’t like my photos. You can’t imagine the flood of colorful light in blue/green coming from the windows on the left of us and red/orange/yellow flooding in from the right of where we were. In these photos they look like nothing. Breathtaking!

The altar area. 

The passion side. You mostly look up but there are details on the floor too. Scenes reminding of Palm Sunday. 

The Nativity Side is where we came in. The Holy Family, the wise man and the shepherds. The designs by Gaudí. The Passion side is more modern. Designs after Gaudi’s death. The Crucifixion and the events before and after. Everything so meaningful.  

When the tour part was over our guide Una told us what else there was and we decided to visit the museum which was also included. Here was much to see about the designs and construction work. Very worth visiting too. 

We made sure to go back through the basilica. 

There was in area in the middle which was called “quiet time” for you to sit and meditate before the altar. Also very good time. 

The back of the church which is supposed to become the main entry at time of finish. 

Time to wander back to our hotel. On the way: what is this building? The photo identified it as “The Monumental Bull Ring”.

We walked back to the hotel and re-grouped. Decision what to do now. We headed out to find a place for supper. We stopped at the front desk to inquire about tours for tomorrow. The young man was very helpful. Parc Güell was solid out. But we bought tickets for the Hop-On-Hop-Off for 24 hours. We think that will be fun tomorrow. 

We wandered until we came to the “La Foga” restaurant. Like most restaurants they had more seating outside in front than inside. But we got a table inside and it was very nice. 

Our waiter did not speak much English. He was from Argentina. James said part of traveling is trying to build those bridges and try to understand each other. So right!

The walk “home” on a (relatively) warm night is always nice. A bakery was just about to close across from the hotel . A few Euros got us something sweet and oh so good. 

James had 14398 steps today. What a great day again. 

Night, night!