Behold Some Of The World’s Greatest Architecture – And Art!
There are days when you just want to explore some of the world’s most beautiful accomplishments!
Yes, one of the most mesmerizing images you will ever find – staring at Anton Gaudi’s incredible artwork – located on the roof of an apartment building in downtown Barcelona!
Welcome To Barcelona!
I have posted about our food adventures in Barcelona, but there is so much more to Barcelona than food! It is a beautiful city, perched on the edge of the Mediterranean:
Exploring The Old Town…
The city has a beautifully preserved old town section, which means you can wander small alleyways that haven’t changed much since the middle ages….
These streets cut through old town Barcelona, a beautifully preserved reminder of an earlier time…we had a great time wandering through the narrow alleyways…
After wandering the city for hours, we made our way to what many feel is Barcelona’s greatest masterpiece…and it is still under construction!
Behold The Sagrada Famiglia!
Barcelona is a city full of energy – and art – and every day was a day of new discovery: but perhaps nothing was more amazing to us than the famous, massive construction project known as “Sagrada Famiglia” – under construction for more than 100 years!
Here is the view from Park Montjuic, miles away – which gives you some idea of just how massive this project is…
The “Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família” is a large Roman Catholic church that was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926).
After construction of Sagrada Família began in 1882, the famed Artchitect/Artist Anton Gaudí became involved in 1883 and devoted the rest of his life to the project – and never came CLOSE to seeing it completed!
Gaudi died in 1926 at age 73, less than a quarter of the way through the massive project. According to wikipedia, “Sagrada Família’s construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s.
As you can see, the structure is still under construction, but that doesn’t take away from its beauty. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí’s death.”
It gives you an idea of just how massive it is – almost impossible to capture the size and scale when you are standing outside. Across the street is a large park for gathering and trying to get a picture that truly captures the magnitude of the structure…
What’s fantastic is that you can actually go inside and climb up it while it is being built! Here is a look inside the massive cathedral…
It is one of those buildings that is truly impossible to capture on camera – it is just too massive, but here is what you see when you look up into the cathedral ceiling:
As you can see, the cathedral floor is also massive…and there are a series of beautiful altars in the cathedral that you can walk by – and places to sit and reflect as well:
and then, there is the piece of artwork that functions as a massive religious statement:
Time to climb up into the towers – here is Alex looking out of the Sagrada – with old town Barcelona staring back…
As you climb the towers, you come across all sorts of amazing artwork and stone along the way…
And of course, you can see Barcelona through all of the construction as well…
You make your way along small walkways, high above Barcelona, until you reach the far side of the towers…
And then it is time to head back down the narrow staircase…
Did I say narrow? Well, it’s steep too!
Once you are back outside, you can really marvel at the amazing artwork on the outside of the towers…
Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, “It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art”[12] and Paul Goldberger called it, “The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages.”[13]
Back To Casa Mila!
Remember these guys?
I will be telling their story soon! We had such a great time in Spain, and one of our friends gifted us this great book called “Gaudi Pop-Ups:
It is complete with, you guessed it, pop up versions of some of his amazing work!
Remember the Sagrada Famiglia? How about “pop up” style:
And my favorite: the rooftop helmets take on a whole new dimension:
This was just one part of our incredible Spain adventure…if you missed any of those stories, here is what we did:
Check out the incredible Boqueria, Barcelona’s world famous food market…you can click on that story here:
http://johnrieber.com/2013/06/12/barcelonas-famous-boqueira-food-stalls-tapas-hanging-ham/
If that makes you hungry, then come along with us for some Tapas!
Here we are outside the world famous Cal Pep restaurant. You can see our entire menu by clicking here:
http://johnrieber.com/2013/05/20/barcelona-tapas-cal-pep-the-battle-for-tapas-supremacy/
Many consider Cal Pep the best tapas restaurant in Barcelona – but the great Chefs at Passadis del Pep may disagree!
You can read about our food adventure at Passadis by clicking here:
And of course, you can see all of our Barcelona trip by jumping on one of their high flying aerial trams!
Get the entire journey, with some fun aerial videos, by clicking here:
http://johnrieber.com/2013/08/08/barcelonas-sky-high-view-flying-over-spain-by-tram/
And of course, you can read all about our adventure on the Costa Brava, especially as we searched for Salvador Dali’s house! Click here for that misadventure:
http://johnrieber.com/2013/11/02/searching-for-salvadore-dali-our-costa-brava-adventure-hello-dali/
At the end of the day, it was one of our favorite adventures ever, thanks Spain!
And thanks to Barcelona for such an amazing architectural adventure!
Categories: Books/Media, European Travel, Exotic Travel, Spain, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Travel Writing, Uncategorized, Wild Travel
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