Barcelona, Part Two

Barcelona is a beautiful city. It's larger than I thought, pedestrian-friendly, bike-friendly and transit-friendly. Just friendly. We made due with our limited Spanish, but just about everyone we talked with spoke at least a little English.

Having, in a former life, commuted to work in Washington DC by Metro, I was impressed with Barcelona's Metro. Food and drink are allowed on trains and in stations, but there was hardly any litter. The trains come often. Over the doors inside each car there are lighted indicators that show your progress from station to station. Most of the spoken station announcements were actually audible, with the visual aid for those of us who didn't understand them.

Signage in the Metro is in 3 languages: Catalan (the regional language), Spanish and English. Very tourist-friendly!

I've realized that I have a bit of a problem describing the rest of our explorations of Barcelona. The problem is I don't really have the vocabulary for it. I like to think I have a pretty good vocabulary. I'm reasonably well-read and usually did well in English class. I'm a really good speller, too. It became clear to me that I was lacking, however, when I asked Emily near the end of her trip what her favorite part of Barcelona was. She answered, "The Sagrada Familia," Gaudi's famous unfinished cathedral, which we spent the better part of our first full day in Barcelona exploring. Fair enough. When I asked her why it was her favorite, she said, "Because Mommy kept saying, 'This place is incredible!'" And it's true. I kept muttering that phrase over and over. I simply didn't know what else to say.

Sagrada Familia was begun in 1892 under another architect. Antoni Gaudi took over the next year and worked on it until his death in 1926. Although Gaudi's plans for the church were destroyed in the Spanish Civil War, work continues and could be completed in 2026, the centenary of Gaudi's death. (My vocabulary's not so bad, right? I just used "centenary" in a sentence.) Sagrada Familia is part working church (Mass is celebrated in the crypt regularly in Castilian Spanish and Catalan), part construction site and part tourist attraction. A couple weeks after we were there, the Pope visited and dedicated it, which seems a bit odd since when we were there it looked more like a hardhat area than a place of worship. Maybe the most beautiful construction site you'll ever see.

I know Gaudi's not everybody's cup of tea. About a year and a half ago I saw photo of the ceiling of Sagrada Familia in the travel section of the newspaper and I was fascinated. Visiting in person didn't disappoint. The kids said they'd like to go back when it's finished. I hope we're able to do that together some day. If it's finished in 2026, they'll be 26 and 24 years old and probably the last people they'll want to travel with will be their parents. Maybe if we foot the bill....

Having taken in views of and from Sagrada Familia, the next day we set out for more views. As we were walking through the gothic quarter to the old cathedral, I was telling the kids that the cathedral we were about to see is older than Sagrada Familia, and finished. As soon as I had said that, we turned the corner to find the cathedral, wrapped in scaffolding. Ah, Europe.

Emily's friend Zip took in the view from the roof of the gothic cathedral and the view from the monument to Christopher Columbus, who's sort of a big local hero, although his statue apparently points in the direction of Libya, not the New World.

We took in the views from a harbor and coast tour boat, which left three-quarters of the family seasick. Could have skipped those views. (Photo before the barfing started.)

The next day we took in views from Gaudi's Park Guell.

And views from the cable car up to Castell Montjuic, a big fort overlooking the city and Mediterranean.

For our final day in Spain we took a day trip to the monastery at Montserrat. Tucked up in the mountains, the once-secluded pilgrimage site is a popular day trip from Barcelona by train and rack railway. Optional funiculars and cable car add to your transportation adventure and your views of the interesting rock formations in the mountains, the monastery clinging to the side of the mountain and the valleys below.

On the way to the airport we took a peek at a couple more iconic Gaudi buildings. Barcelona was great. You should go there. Lacking better vocabulary to sum up our trip, I'm going to click "publish post."

The kids are super travelers. Next month: more art, architecture and cathedrals in store as we explore Paris.