Sunday, July 21, 2013

Sagrada Familia


I couldn't say that I have toured Barcelona without visiting Gaudi's famous Sagrada Familia, which has to be on every tourist's must see list considering that it has it's own metro stop, is pictured on every guidebook and map, and the streets surrounding it are lined with tour buses.  There were lines of people waiting to get inside, even on a Sunday evening when Brandon took me to see it.  


People are flocking to see it, and it's still under construction  Of course, it's been under construction since the late 1800's so it's not like we tourists can wait until it's finished.  I'm struggling to find words to describe it, because it's the most complicated building I've ever seen.  Each side is a different style, and it is filled with sculptural details.  The more I looked at it, the more things I could see.  The complex details coupled with the cranes and scaffolding for the construction, ticket windows, tour buses, trinket shops, lines of people, and clicking cameras make it nearly overwhelming.  


Some of these short pointy tower structures are capped with colorful fruits, which I find to be some of the strangest details.  


Parts of the church are very elegant, but overall it gives me the impression of chaos. 





I give Gaudi an A+ for ambition.  I can't imagine there will ever be anything like it.  

  

Because the church is so tall, and has so many crazy details, I kept looking up and finding new details or angles that I wanted to photograph.  After a while Brandon was getting tired of saving me from oncoming traffic and tired of running block for me to keep me from colliding with other tourists.  When I commented on the street crossing signals because they have a big person leading a smaller person by the hand, he said it was probably showing how to lead your tourist wife around by the hand because she won't stop taking pictures.  So of course I had to make him wait while I took pictures of the street lights too!  

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