Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família

After successfully reuniting with my number one travel buddy late the night before, we had a nice slow start and made our way to the infamous La Sagrada Familia.

We had deliberately left our itinerary fairly loose. Kate had just spent two weeks racing around the continent by train and I just needed a good break so we agreed to make the trip as leisurely as possible with only a few sights on our must-see list. Almost all of them were Gaudi oriented.

La Sagrada Familia (translation 'The Holy Family) is a church like no other. Most large churches and cathedrals have a wow factor. But the interior of this one literally stops you in your tracks. I've never seen anything like it. Unlike many buildings of this nature, this one was only started in the late 19th century and is still under construction with the intention it will be completed in 2026 to mark the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death. It will have 18 spires (8 of which are completed) and the largest is designed to be one metre less than Montjuïc (a mountain within Barcelona) as Gaudi believed the work of a man should not surpass that of God. These multiple spires (according to the audio guide) create a sensation of verticality 😏

Inside is like a forest and the use of light is phenomenal. Even the crypt has daylight pouring into it. The stained glass windows are deliberately colder on one side of the church than the other to accentuate the morning and afternoon light. No part of this construction is without carefully considered thought.

The strangest part of it for me was the disjointedness of designs. Despite constantly being told that designers post Gaudi's death were given strict guidelines on how to continue his vision, you can see the artists in them have left their own marks in style.

We took over 2 hours independently wandering and exploring the inside of the building before reuniting to take some photos of the exterior. It was here we had a near tragedy and Lego Joey fell onto the edge of the lake in front of La Sagrada. Thankfully Kate went to the rescue, and being the more agile climber was able to retrieve her whilst I kept an eye out for Polizei as we were fairly sure we were trespassing. Our cover story was that Kate had dropped her camera. We didn't think they'd buy a 30-something losing a Lego Mini-figure. Whilst thinking she was gone forever, a slow montage started to play out in my head recalling all the places Lego Joey had been and in reality, how much of her was original Lego Joey.

Lego Joey was first created in the summer of 2016 in the Lego store in Cardiff. The only original pieces remaining are her hair and camera as she underwent a remodel in May 2017 prior to our big travels. The only change since our American adventures and later Berlin is a recent change from her polka dot skirt to pink stripey trousers (courtesy of the Cheshire Cat). I'm sure you really needed to know that. It at least satisfied me that she wasn't akin to Trigger's broom. Thanks again to Kate for rescuing a big kid's toy and averting inconsolable heartbreak.Read more