Friday, 17 October 2014

Sagrada Familia

On Tuesday we used the free shuttle bus from the campsite to Barcelona. We arrived at Placa de Catalunya at 10am and had the good luck and fortune to have met a lovely Dutch couple on the bus who were big fans of Barcelona and gave us excellent directions to Sagrada Familia. We walked a bit of the way with them, and also stopped off at various interesting points along the way, such at Gaudi's 1907 'Casa Batllo' (House of Bones) 


and the Fundacio Antoni Tapies with it's 1990 'Cloud and Chair' aluminium sculpture on the rooftop. We also saw another Gaudi building, the 'Casa Mila', more commonly know as the rock pile/ stone quarry or in Spanish, 'La Pedrera'. Unfortunately it was wrapped up due to renovations/repairs, but the waving ripple effect was obvious, as were the faces on the chimneys! 


We mooched on past Avenue Diagonal (is that where JK Rowling got the idea from?) and then crossed North of that to see the vast towers of the Sagrada Familia and the construction cranes at work. It's true that the place looks more like a building site than a place of worship, but there is that sense of mystery, awe and wonder that I've mentioned before. The Rough Guide to Barcelona states that, 'Even the coldest hearts will find the Sagrada Familia inspirational in form and spirit'. Well Ed was unmoved, but I totally got it! The museum alongside the main church tells the story of Gaudi and his obsession with nature. You can see the natural forms in the huge tree like supporting columns in the nave, and the ways in which natures' patterns are used for spiralling staircases and the like. 


The amount of light and colour in the central part was amazing; photos cannot do it justice at all!


We also looked in the crypt which contains models, sketches and photographs to help make sense of what is going on amongst the crashing and banging noises of construction workers busy at work all around. 


All in all, my impressions of Gaudi were that he was an interesting and influential man, and that left me wanting to see more! 

Clare 
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