Today we took the metro over to the Eixample district to see Gaudi's unfinished cathedral Sagrada Familia. This cathedral has been over 100 years in construction, and it is expected to be finished around 2020 or 2040. We waited in line for about 45 minutes, dubiously admiring the outside of the cathedral with its towers topped with what looked like bunches of grapes, a Christmas tree, the Tim Burton-esque Passion Facade with larger-than-life sculptures depecting scenes from the Passion and the Last Supper, the Nativity Facade looking like a fancy wedding cake left in the sun too long, the dichotomy of color between older, tan construction and newer salmon-pink construciton, and one whole side covered in scaffolding - the current constuction effort. Gavin tried to convince me not to go inside since the line was so long ("We've seen a ton of churches!"), but I insisted we see the inside. :)
 |
| The Nativity Facade, looking like so much melted frosting... |
 |
| Old and new - Nativity Facade. See the Christmas tree between the four tall towers? And the bunches of grapes on top of the smaller towers? |
 |
| The Passion Facade (opposite side of the church from the Nativity Facade.) |
It was definitely worth the wait! (even Gavin was impressed :) ) Sagrada Familia is unlike any cathedral I have ever seen! Literature posted around tells that Gaudi wanted the inside of the church to evoke a forest, and that is definitely the best comparison I can make. The stone columns holding up the ceiling all split into several "branches," and on the ceiling it is sculpted to evoke leaves or a forest canopy; it reminded me of a jungle canopy. The multicolored stained glass windows shine different colored light on all the columns, giving the stone more color than it would normally have, (though half the windows were plain glass - the stained glass is also a work in progress) but the stone columns were also made of different colors of stone, some pink, some blue, some grey. I read somewhere that cathedrals are built with such high ceilings to send one's attention high into the heavens, and no cathedral I have ever seen has given me the feeling of being lifted up like Sagrada Familia.
 |
| The "forest" interior of Sagrada Familia. Notice all the plain glass - stained glass is only partially completed. |
 |
| The "canopy." The glass windows on top are intended to let in little bits of light, just like trees in a forest. |
After seeing Sagrada Familia, we headed over toward Passeig de Gracia - Barcelona's main shopping strip. We stopped for lunch at De Tapa Madre, a nice little tapas place with outdoor seating separated from the busy street by a wall covered in plants, a very nice noise barrier. I was excited to see SALAD (!!) on their menu, and ordered a nice goat cheese salad, which ended up being a huge hunk of goat cheese with a bit of salad rather than the usual proprtion of a bed of greens with a bit of goat cheese, but I'll take what little green stuff I can get in Spain... :)
Passeig de Gracia is your typical upscale shopping boulevard. The completely unaffordable places post handy little cards in front of their store displays telling the prices of the things on the mannequins (i.e. Suit coat $500, Dress, $700). Gavin and I joked that this was to keep the rifraff out. :) The more affordable places where you could buy things under $100 didn't post prices out front. If the prices weren't intimidating enough, all the expensive places also had security doormen in expensive-looking suits - I joked to Gavin that if I walked toward one of those shops they wouldn't open the door for me in my cheap attire. :)
For dinner, we decided to try out the La Ribera area near our apartment. I picked a place out of the Lonely Planet book, (Wushu, an Asian place for a change from tapas), but unfortunately Wushu doesn't appear to exist anymore, or at least not where it is marked in our book. That is strike two for our books letting us down about a restaurant! Gavin had us stop at a nice-smelling wood fired pizza place nearby instead, where we had what we coined, in our sarcastic manner, a "mind blowingly average" meal of sad caprese salad with almost green tomatoes and tasteless pizza.
On the way back to our apartment I stopped us at a cute little wine bar called Origen. The tiny, cozy interior was decorated with numerous shelves full of wine and vases full of wine corks. I ordered a glass of Moscatell, assuming this would be the same thing as my favorite sparkling dessert wine: moscato. Not in the least - this was more like a while port, syrupy sweet and served in a tiny shot glass. I also ordered a baked stuffed apple for dessert, which I enjoyed, but Gavin complained that this is not a real dessert, just a healthy fruit masquerading as a dessert. :)
Tonight it was raining in Barcelona, and the weather enveloped the Old City in a drowsy romantic atmosphere, creating a cloudy haze around the antique wrought iron street lights, covering the tiled streets in a reflective sheen of moisture, sending little rivulets trickling down the brick and stone facades of the old architecture, and encouraging happy couples like us to share an umbrella. (though this trip I actually remembered to buy travel umbrellas, so Gavin and I, practical as well as romantic, each had our own umbrella. :) ) So, mano y mano, we walked slowly back to our apartment, enjoying the romance of a rainy Barcelona night.
 |
| Gaudi's Casa Batlló on Passeig de Gracia. |
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment