Sagrada Familia and More

We woke to the alarm clock and we sort of cursed it.  Boy we are not as young as we use to be.

Today's plan is to visit Sagrada Familia and then who knows what.

After enjoying breakfast and showering we were out the door at 9 am.

Prior to leaving home we had prereserved our entrance tickets and a guided tour for Sagrada Familia.  Read more about how to do that here. 

Our meeting time is 9:45 for the 10 am English tour.  We take the metro right to the Sagrada Familia and we find a coffee shop and sit and relax and enjoy the caffeine. 

When we arrive we find the entrance for the pre reserved tickets (it is not clearly marked, but just ask someone).  Note if you do not have pre reserved tickets you will probably be out of luck everything was sold out until around 1700 that day.  

When you enter, they check your bags at security check points.

In fact this might be a good time to say that we have noticed a much higher police presence since the last time we were here last year.  I am sure it has to do with the recent terroist attack on Las Ramblas.

We are directed to the meeting point for our tour and I am guessing there were about 25 in the tour.  Thankfully we are given headsets and transmitters so we can easily hear the guide Maria.

I am very impressed with Sagrada Famillia.  I really did not have an preconceived ideas about it and because we did a detailed tour we learned a lot.  Note Rick Steves also has a great guide you can download for free and listen to when you arrive.

The tour was about 45 minutes and we both walked away with a greater understanding of Gaudi and the artist he was. 

Oh almost forgot to mention that while in the church I was approached by a lady and at first I thought she was someone who followed my blog (as that happens often and I appreciate meeting followers).  She introduces herself to me as Karin Murray's sister Renee!  Wow small world.  I knew Karin's sister was going to be on the cruise but really was not expecting to see her until the cruise.  Bernie later said that he had noticed her looking at us and now we know why.  We love Karin and John and look forward to getting to know Renee and her partner on the trip.

After the church we decided to walk to La Pedrera - Gaudi's apartment building he designed. We decided to just look at it from the outside as the price was high and we really were not in the right frame of mind.

We strolled towards Placa de Catalunya and we noticed a lot of young people with Catalunya flags and signs.  Looks like a march is about to happen.

We head to the Metro station there and Bernie enters the turnstile with the 10 ticket pass but when I try to it says the ticket is defective!  When I finally find an attendant she gives me a new pass that has 5 tickets left (which is exactly what was left on our pass).

We get off at Placa Espanya to go to the large shopping mall called Arenas de Barcelona. 

This shopping mall is in the old Barcelona Bull Fight arena. It is stunning and there is a lot in this mall.  Yes there are stores and food stalls, but there is also a theater and on the roof there is a walkway all around.  Beautiful views of the city and numerous restaurants to sit and enjoy the view too.

It is now around 1 pm and we start to walk down the large street and see that the police have closed off the street.  In the far distance we can see the people.  Thousands!  All young people.  I am just guessing but I would say there were at least 5,000 students marching for indendence for Catalunya.  

I was so impressed by the crowds and their peaceful protest. Often people give young people a hard time but I have to say that these people renewed my faith in them and the future.  

I am not sure how the outcome of the referendum on Sunday will affect them.  The country did not recognize the results of the last referendum and they are arresting the leaders of this current referendum so even if the results are a high percentage of yes for independence I am not sure if it will be recognized.  But the people are speaking, lets hope their leaders will listen and that no civil war breaks out.

We are needing a small bite to eat and nothing beats sitting at a Bodega and enjoying some tapas and drinks. 

We take a seat at Sant Antoni Glorios and the servers were so outstanding.  We stumbled with our Spanish and they helped when needed.

Sangria for me, beer for Bernie and some light taps for our meal.  Artichokes, asparagus, potatoes and some bread with crushed tomoatoes.  Just right.  This should tie us over until dinner.

Back at the apartment and Bernie is napping today and I am writing the blog.

Thanks for following.  I appreciate all the kind comments and try to answer all of the comments people make to each blog as soon as possible.