Today we are going to be a tourist in Barcelona! After a beautiful sunrise (I went back to bed after it waking me up) we had breakfast at a lovely buffet which was up to AC Hotel standards and even more as there is a conference in house, we decided to visit the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona.
Originally, it was architect Francisco de Paula del Villar started the project for this church, which was to be in a classic Gothic style. However, Antoni Gaudí in 1883, at just 31 years old was given the commission . Gaudí completely changed the original design and began building his most famous work using his own style which made him known worldwide, and gave him the title of master of modern architecture.
From the time he took over the project until his death in 1926, Gaudí worked to build this unique temple that was intended to become a masterpiece showing different symbols of Christianity.
The Sagrada Familia work is financed by donations made by visitors and the public, which explains its slow construction. Gaudí even once said “The Sagrada Familia is made by the people and this is reflected in it. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people”. While we were there the display of the timeline of the Church indicated that in 2018 construction had ended, there was a crane on top of the church and several of the cylinders were covered and being maintained/fixed or added to – we are not sure what was happening. In other places, such as online, it indicates that construction still continues today and its completion is scheduled for 2026, a date symbolic of the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death.
As Barcelona is a city of transit and no a city of cars, we decided to take transit to the Sagrada Familia! We were supposed to take the Metro/subway but we could not find the entrance so instead we took a bus and walked about 15 minutes to the Basilica. We also had issues getting tickets online (which you sign up for specific times to visit)- despite using 2 cell phones and my laptop I kept getting a “form error” when I selected a ticket for a person with disabilities (33%) and their companion. Luckily it was a straight shot for the bus and we arrived at the Basilica in about 30 minutes! I went up to the Individual entry security beside the entrance line and asked where I can purchase tickets as I was not able to buy them online and he said to wait and talk to the ticket taker. The ticket taker was dealing with a lady in the line who was an hour late for their 12:30pm entrance (it was 1:45pm at the time) and he said no, their group could not enter. I thought great – we are going to be turned around too for not having bought tickets! The security guard explained in Spanish what happened and the ticket taker asked me how many tickets I needed and I said we were trying to buy them for 2pm and he said wait right here and came back with 2 free tickets! If I had bought them online Andrew would have had to pay 36 Euros! So then we were whisked into the Group entrance where the accessible security check is that leads to the elevator is (which was under repair) and then escorted around normal exit and up into the church – what an awesome experience! Here are my pictures – really they do not do justice to such an enormous building!
