Barcelona - Gaudí Paradise
Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in Europe, and I was very excited to show Ashley around for the day. I had planned the perfect route that would take us to see many of Antoni Gaudí’s famous buildings, museums, and parks. But sometimes you make a brilliant plan, and it all falls spectacularly to shit right out of the gate.
One of the concerns I had about this trip before we left was the thought of experiencing FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I have FOMO when I don’t get to take a photo or video of a certain thing, and Ashley has FOMO when she doesn’t get to eat certain foods she had her heart set on. I knew I would have some trouble spending only one day in certain ports and feeling like I hadn’t gotten to see much. This is why I spent weeks planning what we’d do in certain places so we made sure to hit the things that we really wanted to see. We both have our struggles with FOMO, and some days are more challenging to accept it than others. Barcelona was one of those days for me. The plan was to go to the far end of town to see Parque Güell, then work our way back going to La Catedral de La Sagrada Familía, then La Pedrera, and finally Casa Batllo. It was ambitious, but it was totally possible.
At some ports MSC has arranged shuttles to get us from the port into town if we choose not to go on an excursion with them. Of course we have to pay for these shuttles, but they usually are cheaper than taking a taxi two ways. We paid for the shuttle in Barcelona thinking it would take us into the city or at least to an area that had a metro stop. For 20 euros it literally took us over a bridge from the port to the very edge of town, we could have walked it in about 15 minutes. Strike one. The plan was to take the metro around the city, but the closest metro stop to us was about an hour away on foot. This day was going to be a day full of walking so I didn’t want to spend an hour walking just to get to the metro. I didn’t have enough cash to take a 60 euro cab ride, and according to the info lady the closest ATM was a 15 minute walk away, which left us with one option: the open top city tour bus.
At this point we had wasted so much time I knew we wouldn’t be able to get to all the places we had planned to go, and I was throwing my arms up in the air doing the, “well I guess we might as well not do anything” routine. Ashley had to sit me down and tell me not to act like a child because we only had one day in Barcelona and that we should continue on, even though we wouldn’t be able to do everything I had planned. After our come-to-jesus I calmed down a bit, and we agreed to take the open top bus, which would eventually take us to the destinations we were aiming for. I however am not a fan of open top city bus tours. I feel like they’re cliché and too touristy. But I let it go since we simply needed transportation at this point, and they would allow us to pay with a credit card.
The buses go two different routes: a west loop of the city, and an east loop of the city. We boarded a bus, and I was already biting my tongue so I didn’t say anything negative about open top buses since I was trying to reset the tone of the day, and I didn’t bother to double check which bus we were getting on. Of course we boarded the bus that begins with the west loop of the city, and every stop we wanted was on the east loop. Strike two. I took some deep breaths and settled into my seat and tried to let the Barcelona breeze wash my frustration away. We spent the better part of an hour watching tourists take hundreds of cell phone pictures of blurry buildings whizzing by covered by blurry trees. We drove past past the Olympic stadium, Barcelona Fútbol Stadium, and the mall - yawn.
One interesting thing we did notice throughout several neighborhoods were dozens of flags that said “Llibertat Presos Politics!” Which means, “freedom for political prisoners” in Catalan. They were accompanied by another flag we didn’t recognize. We learned later that Cataluña is attempting to secede from Spain. Over a year ago the Cataluñan parliament held an unsanctioned vote for the citizens to vote on their secession from Spain. After the banned vote and the riots that ensued, Madrid dissolved the regional administration and has imprisoned some government officials and proponents of Cataloñian independence. They need a majority of the region’s vote to make that happen, and they are roughly 40% in favor of it right now.
Finally we began the east loop and we neared our first stop, La Pedrera. This is a place that I had been in the past, but I had only seen the façade. From what I’ve seen in photos, the inside of the building and the terrace is a unique masterpiece with strange stairwells and chimneys. It’s considered the best place to go to get an understanding of all of Gaudí’s works. I had been looking forward to experiencing this highlight for months. We walked up to the entrance, and I was immediately suspicious that there was no line. The lady at the front informed us that the museum was closed for the day, and that it was the only day all year that it would be closed for maintenance. Strike three. Crestfallen, I actually had to hold back tears. Ashley - careful not to make any sudden movements - looked me like I was a bomb about to detonate, “are you okay?” “Fine. I’m fine. Everything is fine.” I choked out. It took enormous restraint, but I walked calmly onto our next potential stop without kicking any street cones over.
We arrived in front of the magnificent Casa Batllo with its roof that looks kind of like a dragon’s back. As we stood in line we took inventory of our day: so far no successes, but it wasn’t over yet. We wanted to leave enough time for La Sagrada Familía since it is one of the main attractions we wanted to see, and neither of us had been there before. We decided to abandon the line and head straight to the church. This was our first good decision of the day.
La Sagrada Familía more than made up for missing all three of the other places we missed. After having seen dozens of famous and not so famous cathedrals in western Europe, they really do all have a similar look and feel and smell for that matter. Sure, some are more opulent than others, and some might be more historically significant than others, but none of them hold a candle to La Sagrada Familía in my opinion. It is the most breathtaking building I have ever been in anywhere in the world. We both agreed that we could have spent an entire day exploring the inside and outside of it. However, we had about 90 minutes.
Gaudí’s inspiration for all of his works came from the beauty of nature. He also held the belief that God is present everywhere. The marriage of these two ideas is evident throughout the exterior and interior of this church. The first thing you’ll notice when you walk in is the stained glass. On the east where the morning light comes in, the glass has cool tones of blue and green. The west side where the evening light spills in is orange and green giving it a warm glow. It is the most elaborate stained glass I have ever seen. The pillars inside the church are designed to look like trees, and they are not all identical. They are made of different types of stone and marble, and they’re cut into different patterns to represent different types of bark and trees. Even the railing where the choir sings has music notes crafted into the iron.
The church is full of patterns that represent the mathematical and artistic principle, The Rule of Thirds. There are a lot of number patterns to be found throughout as well. Next to the statue of Judas there is a "Jesus Sudoku” as Ashley called it. When you add up the numbers in any direction they add up to 33, the age Jesus died.
When viewed from the outside there are three main façades: The Nativity, The Passion, and The Glory. The Nativity was completed by Gaudí and bears the highest resemblance to his style. The Passion was completed after and his death, and The Glory is still being worked on. During the Spanish Civil War many of his drawings and models were destroyed and it took 16 years to reconfigure them and make sense of his plan since Gaudí was no longer around to explain his vision. Construction is said to come to an end in 2026, a century after his death. We’ve decided it’s well worth a return visit to see it unencumbered by cranes.
Gaudí had an odd desire to die among poor people. He ended up getting his wish after he was hit by a trolly and was unrecognizable so he was sent to the public hospital for people who couldn’t afford the private hospital, and he died without anyone knowing it was him. He spent 43 years of his life building this work of art, and he is buried in the crypt there. By the time it is finished, it will have taken 143 years to complete. I wonder what he would think of it today.
After some reflecting on our day we had some realizations. Mine: throwing a tantrum is no way to spend your only day in Barcelona. Ashley’s: Gaudí really is as cool as I hyped him up to be. Despite our initial mishaps, we were very pleased that we got to spend some time at this beautiful cathedral. And all along we’ve discussed that we will pick some of our favorite places along this trip and go back to spend more time there. Barcelona is one of them.