Saturday, November 11, 2023

LA SAGRADA FAMILIA, MY FAVORITE CHURCH

 Saturday, November 11, 2023

Hotel Gaudi/Barcelona, Spain

Sunny, 66F

 

Dear Readers, 

First, Happy Veterans Day to all of our family and friends who are also veterans. My favorite veteran,TK, proudly wore his USS Columbus hat—several young men from Ohio State University Naval ROTC stopped to talk with him and gave him a beautiful challenge coin. TK was pleased. P.S. my brother is a favorite veteran too!



Here is are photos of our Hotel Gaudi:

Lobby Area, Hotel Gaudi


I hope you enjoy the gazillion photos I am posting today. La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished Roman Catholic church begun in 1882, is so irresistible to me. This is our 4th visit; our 3rd time seeing the interior. Every visit I notice many different things, and of course, the work continues. It was scheduled to be finished in 2025, but now there is a disagreement with the apartment building owners across the street on one side. That is sad.

In this photo you can see three different phases of construction


Amazing details

Photos do not do the stained glass justice


The Altar

Gaudi wanted the columns to rsesemble trees, thus a forest

Medallions on the tree columns, in four "corners" by the altar




"Our Father" on a door

The kiss of Judas

I hope you can see the colorful pinnacles, fruit on this side



The Crucifixion on the Passion entrance


The Birth of Christ on the Nativity entrance


We made another visit to the Market and took some more photos there.

Candies-chocolate!

More candy

And more candy!

Empanedas--heated to order

Olives

Smoothies!




 After that we visited the Guell Palace, which was designed by Antoni Gaudi, the principal architect for La Sagrada Familia, for the industrial tycoon Eusebi Guell. It was built between 1886 and 1888. It is located across the street from our hotel and so we decided to visit it. 

There were at least 4 sets of stairs like this

Sconces most beautiful

Piano like instrument, did not get the name

Another piano area

Office

Sitting Room

Bathroom--the most gorgeous toilet I have ever seen!



We passed a vegan restaurant along the way to dinner

and a vegetarian restaurant
08002 (Barcelona

Finally, we had dinner at Les Quinze on Placa Reale 6, Barcelona.  

Dinner would be hamburgers and fries--I know this is sacrilege, but....my stomach.


Back to the hotel and time to get ready for cruisin'!


One more thing: If you are traveling by taxi in Barcelona, PLEASE use seatbelts. Taxi drivers are ruthless drivers, trust me. And we only used city authorized taxis. (taxi to and from La Sagrada Familia, an hour's walk from our hotel.


This was a 15,000 step day for us!

5 comments:

  1. Oh my so much walking, everything looks so grand, and the market, epanadas and olives, just yum, any samples?fresh fruit? Did u take some holy water from the church?

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    Replies
    1. If you read today's first post (Sunday, the 12th), it would seem that it was a good thing to visit the church.

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  2. "Gaudi wanted the columns to resemble trees, thus a forest."
    So interesting when many cathedrals have ceilings that resemble the night sky.

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  3. Gaudi followed the "book of nature," the Bible, and the liturgy--there were examples of a honeycomb, just one of his many inspirations from nature.

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  4. There are leaves, flowers, vines, everywhere, to name a few other sources of inspiration.

    ReplyDelete