Barcelona for the umpteenth time – but today with a plan.  We are going to re-visit the Sagrada Familia for the first time in 21 years.  We’re really excited about going back – even though the cathedral is still not finished.  The quintessential question is will it ever be finished?  Regardless, it will be fun to see it up close again – Gaudi was just amazing.  How his brain worked! 

Up and out a little after 8 (we have tickets for 10:30 entry and want to leave ourselves plenty of time) we make our way out to the Port Blue Bus stop where there is a huge line but, to the port’s credit, there are lots of buses.  One leaves just as we hit the line, but another pulls up right away.  The ticket buying and loading process takes longer than the whole darn ride!  But we’re here, we have a seat and we are at the World Trade Center with plenty of time to walk the 15 minute walk to the metro, where we can take a direct line to Sagrada.  On the way to the metro, we are treated with the spectacle of the Firefighters’ Marathon.  Too fun!  Paral-lel avenue is blocked off on one side and as we cross the road from the port side, the first of the runners come by – in full gear!  And they continue to come, almost for the entire walk up to the metro.  A very cool sight indeed.  We just hope there isn’t a fire anywhere because there are a whole heck of a lot of firefighters running down the road!

The metro is a breeze (I love this system!) and everything goes like clockwork, putting us at Sagrada before 9:30.  Plenty of time for pictures and then a cappuccino while we wait for our appointed entry time.

Arriving back in front of the entrance, there is a little bit of disorganization with people just milling about in front of the rope stations leading to the entrance.  The security folks tell us 15 minutes or so to be back there, but then they open up the line and somehow sort us into 2 lines – of which ours is the slowest.  Sigh.  Oh well, nothing to do but hang out and wait to get inside.  Finally inside the complex we start our audio guide and meander about the upper level terraces snapping exterior shots and waiting for the interior of the cathedral to be open.

Right at 10:30, the doors open and we are let inside to marvel at the forest of soaring tree columns (specifically designed to look like trees towering up into the sky), the different facades – the Nativity facade which is deep blue in color, and the Passion façade which is more neutral with oranges, yellows and tan.

We wander around a bit, behind the altar as far as we can go, then circle back to line up for the Nativity tower for which we have tickets at 10:45. 

We ride up to the first floor in a little elevator with only 2 others which is nice.  Then ascend a winding stone staircase that leads us up to a little walled walkway in between two of the turret towers. From here you get a bird’s eye view of the city stretched out in front of us and the tons of people way, way down below on the street level. 

You can also see up close some of the fruit statuary that tops the pointed façade of the cathedral and the angel on the top of the Christmas tree looking thing atop one of the towers.  There are so many details, it is hard to take them all in.  Sadly, we didn’t really know exactly     what to expect from this visit to the tower, we had read that there was more to see in the Nativity Tower than the Passion Tower, which very well may be, but the little walkway where we were turns out to be the entire focus of the visit.  We didn’t really realize that and didn’t spend as much time as we probably should have examining all the little details that makes this building (and Gaudi’s plans and designs) so incredible. 

We snapped our pictures, then headed back into the stairwell, only to find that the rest of the journey was, well, circular stairwell!  It was still fun and wonderful and even on the stairwell going down we got some great panoramic and outdoor shots – but still, had we known!  Although, honestly, the more time we would have spent up there on the walkway, the more crowded it would have become.  As it was, we were the first 4 people up there, and we ended up being the only people heading down – don’t know what the other couple did or how long they stayed, it seemed like we had the entire stairwell to ourselves – which in and of itself was really cool.

Plus, on the way down, there were doors and windows overlooking the cathedral interior which gave us excellent viewpoints on the tree column supports and the different colored columns themselves, which we would learn more about in the audio guide when we were back on the floor of the cathedral.

Arriving on the ground floor and retrieving our lockered backpack, we continue our audio guide tour of the cathedral.  The guide explains the columns, why they are in the tree design (nature and reaching to God), the different colors (I’ve now conveniently forgotten why they are all made of different material) and the colors of the different facades.  Gaudi had a reason for everything – the colors, the design, the different statuary in specific places.  Astounding.  Every place he designs just intrigues and astounds me.  It is not so much his imagination as it is – in his day and age – how he could have completed what he designed.  It was so radical.  But, he obviously had patrons who believed in him and funded him…..not just for personal abodes, but for this enormous Catholic cathedral.

We continue to marvel at the interior, walking along the far end of the cathedral to the main doors (eventually) with the the Lord’s prayer translated into every different language with the batman-ish Christ statue above it, around the Passion façade to the altar with the hanging Jesus on a cross, to the side entrance with similar doors inscribed with some prayer and onto the exterior of the Passion façade – one of the best up close views you can get of the exterior sculptures.

It’s a picture taking cornucopia! The angles, the scenes, the details.  It is all amazing and each and every direction has a different beautiful scene to photograph.  Thank God for digital cameras!

We could stay here all day!  But, no, we have a ship to catch.  So we pry ourselves away, only to get totally immersed in the museum in the basement (crypts) of the cathedral.  Here are the actual models and notes and drawings that Gaudi made planning the cathedral. Plus there is a great chronology of the Cathedral from its inception in 1866 through Gaudi’s death in 1926 and the construction that continues on today.  Fascinating.

Finally tearing ourselves away from all that is Sagrada Familia and Gaudi, we head out into the muted sunshine to begin our trek back to the World Trade Center.  We rarely spend time in this area, so it is nice to be able to meander back through neighborhoods we’ve never explored. Truer traditional neighborhoods than the more touristy Las Ramblas or Barcelonetta or Gothic areas that is.  There are little local bars and cafes and shops and normal everyday life happening along the streets and avenues we stroll down.  Just another Sunday in Barcelona.

As we are nearing noon, we start to look for places to eat and spy a restaurant called El Puestu (the market) where a man is cleaning off a cushion on a chair.  Asking when they open, he says now, we ask if he has Wi-Fi, he says yes, we say sold!  And thus begins a fabulous Catalan lunch on the sidewalk in the Fort Pienc neighborhood. 

What begins as just the 2 of us sitting alone among all the tables ends up with not a table to be had.  The place is packed wihtin minutes!  Good call to get here early and be able to sit and have our beer and wine, and pan con tomat, of course, before the place becomes crazy busy.  The pan con tomat is wholly different than others that we have had – it is light and airy with just a hint of the tomato but still as wonderful as always, just different!  We pass the time between pan con tomat and our main  meals people watching – the little 3 year old at the next table riding her bike all over the park across the street without any supervision, coming back occasionally to get mom and dad’s (mostly dad’s) approval, the customers at the restaurant, the people behind us with the dogs we’d like to kick because they won’t stop yapping (little dogs, always the worst), just life in Barcelona in general. 

Our mains (well, really appetizers – but you know, what can we say) come – and on my!  So good!  We ordered the Cannelloni, which is excellent, very reminiscent of Katie Button’s Curate Cannelloni, particularly the sauce, and the octopus which is delectable.  Served on top of potato puree, the octopus is tender and juicy, but oh, that puree.  That wins the food prize.  I could eat that all day long, it is so creamy and tasty and good.  Wow.  Excellent meal. 

Now it is time to head back to the ship.  We traverse down streets and pedestrian areas on to the Arc de Triomf (who knew there was an Arc de Triomf here?)  with a line, seriously, a mile long to get inside.  Huh?  Don’t see the value there – it isn’t very tall, it isn’t in a very strategic location…..Oh well. 

Walking down the promenade here, there is a street performer all dressed up in a robot/transformer costume.  That’s got to be hot and heavy.  But he’s dancing and playing it up and really great.  We stand there watching him for a few minutes, and videoing him of course.  I give him a euro donation and go back to watching, when he proceeds to motion to me to come over.  I say, nope.  He motions.  I say, nope, not going.   You know where this goes, don’t you?  I finally relent and head over for a great photo opp and sort of hug while he thanks me.  So sweet.

We continue on through streets and boulevards until we veer off into the Gothic quarter and wind our way past the cool city history museum we visited last time and through the crowded (oh dear me, 5 ships in port, with 2 MONSTROUS ones, we’re talking crowded) streets onto Las Ramblas.  Weaving our way through the crowds we veer off at Kiosko La Cazalla which is sadly closed today, continuing our journey toward Paral-lel.  We find one bar where they have no wine.  Okie dokie. Next. At the corner of Paral-lel and Nou de la Rambla, across the street from the Apolo theater, we find an empty table at Rincon del Artista, a cervezeria we had passed multiple times on our visit last month.  Plopping down we order a beer and wine, then top it off with 2 cappuccino.  What the heck – we’re in no hurry and the caffeine won’t hurt us. 

Then it is back to the ship, past the cool fortress walls and across the round-a-bout onto World Trade Center and the shuttle back to the ship.  Tomorrow – St. Tropez