Wow!

Today was a definite highlight.

Outside of Barcelona is the mountain called Montserrat. At the top there is an abbey and a number of walking trails so today we hit the road for the 45 min drive to where we catch the cable car up to the monastery.

It was very impressive. The stone is conglomerate (a type of sedimentary rock) and very rugged. We had a look inside the basilica where there is a statue of the Madonna and baby Jesus but they are both black. We couldn’t get tickets to get closer so had to make do with a zoomed-in photo.

We then walked out to a lookout offering views of the monastery and the valley it over looked. There is a road and a cog-wheeled train that go up to the main part of the monastery but we caught the yellow cable car. Only a 5 minute trip but good fun.

After walking around and checking out the sights we headed back down the cable car and back into the city for the second wow of the day. Our tour of Barcelona is spread over two days with the first part happening today and the second tomorrow. The guide took us up Montjuic hill which had the current Museum of Art in a building originally built for the 1929 Expo. There are also a number of venues for events from the 1992 Olympic Games - remember those iconic images of the diving with the city in the background?

The Barcelona bull ring is at the bottom of this hill, there are two rings in town. Bull fighting isn’t technically banned but the city refuses to organise them so this one is now a big shopping centre. The other ring is privately owned and they are working out what to do with it. The last bull fight was in 2011.

After taking a few photos we went down past the main port of Barcelona. We counted 6 massive cruise ships in port. They have had to restrict the number that can visit at once as they were putting too much pressure on services in the city triggering backlash from residents.

We then went to one of the most stunning buildings in the world - Sagrada Familia (or Sacred Family). This is a massive unfinished basilica that was started in 1882 and is still yet to be completed. After the original architect resigned in 1883 the famous Antoni Gaudi took over and made this his masterpiece.

Work has progressed slowly over the last 143 years but it is expected it will be finished sometime in the next 10 years or so. The front of the Basilica is still only temporary and finishing it will require the acquisition of a couple of city blocks as there isn’t the room to complete it on the current site.

The main central tower is now the tallest building in Barcelona on next year when it is finished it will become the tallest Catholic Church in the world. The top of the tower will be 172.5 metres high which intentionally 0.5m below the height of Montjuic Hill - Gaudi was a religious man and said man’s work cannot surpass God’s.

Gaudi died in 1926 but left designs, models, and descriptions of how the building should be finished but the finer details are being developed as the building evolves. Every aspect of this building has been carefully thought through and this continues to the current day. The stained glass windows represent the 4 seasons, the east facing facade tells the story of the birth of Jesus and gets the sunrise, the west facing gets the sunset and tells of Christ’s death, the crucifix above the altar aligns to one of the towers and so shows Christ’s ascent to heaven, the pillars are meant to be trees, it is all seriously stunning. The stained glass also has the names of key churches and saints from around the world Sydney’s St Mary’s is there and so is Mary McKillop.

I really can’t describe just how amazing this building is. In Segovia I was impressed by a 2000 year old aqueduct, there have been many 14th and 15th century buildings all along this tour and this building is definitely up there with the absolute best of what we have seen. A definite tour highlight.

Dinner was a good pasta and bottle of wine in a small restaurant near the hotel. Tomorrow our tour continues with yet more Gaudi!Baca lagi