Posted in Musings

Barcelona, on the northeastern coast of Spain was our third destination to visit. I first saw Barcelona watching the 1992 Olympics. The memory of the archer loosing an arrow to light the Olympic torch is one of my all time favorite Olympic memories.

Last spring we went to see a movie called "Vicki Christina Barcelona" which inspired us to visit Barcelona. It featured a lot of sites in the city. We have a good friend from Ecuador, Alexandra, who now lives there so it was a given that we would visit if we ever had the chance to go to Spain.

We flew to Barcelona from Granada where Alexandra's daughter, Andrea, fixed us a great lunch, then took us to a still working monastery built high up on a mountain over 1000 years ago. The views there were spectacular. It makes you wonder how in the world the monastery was built all those years ago. The church building itself was beautiful as are most of the cathedrals and churches built "way back then." In spite of the fact that many of these church buildings have no real spiritual life in them, they are a testament to the creativity God instilled in mankind. I personally find it easy to lift my eyes toward heaven and worship God surrounded by so much beauty. But at the same time I am saddened to think that so many of the people who build monuments like these to God totally miss what God wants most- a personal relationship.

Once we got back to Manresa (just outside of Barcelona), where Alexandra lives, she took us downtown where we could walk around and see some of the city. It's so enjoyable to do that- the weather was perfect (for me, which meant it was nice and cool) and we were able to visit as we walked.

One of the main attractions in Barcelona is the work of the Spanish artist, Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi was an architect who built some really interesting buildings. He's one of those artists that you either really like or really don't like. For me, his work has really grown on me and I like it. My main "thing" to do in Barcelona was to visit some of the buildings he built.

On the way into town we bought tickets for a tour bus that goes all over the city where you can get off then get back on as they come by every 10 minutes or so. We arrived downtown only to find out that the bus line we purchased our tickets for was on strike that day and only one or two buses were running. It was quite disappointing but we managed okay. We took the one bus running and did the entire tour. We couldn't get off because there weren't any other buses coming by til that one came round again whenever it came around several hours later. That meant that we would be seeing these buildings from the bus and not from close up. But, I DID get to see them and I'm satisfied with that. We also got to see the whole city on the tour bus which I enjoyed.

By late afternoon the strike was over and we did get off to look at the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, (Sacred Family) Gaudi's most famous work. We didn't have the time to go inside and look, but just walking around seeing the outside was incredible. The only word I can think of to describe this building is massive. It is SO big! He died before finishing it and the plans for it were destroyed in the Spanish Civil War. So the end result will be somewhat different than Gaudi originally intended. You either love it or hate it, but you can't ignore it!

The other place we got off to see was Gaudi's "Guell Park" (Guell was his patron). This is a very whimsical place that I just loved.

When we got back to Manresa we had a fun time with Alexandra, Manel (her husband), and daughter Andrea. Manel has a restaurant and we had a delicious spread of Tapas, typical Spanish appetizers (which form a meal when you have several of them, as we did). Manel is a native Catalan, which is the region in which you find Barcelona. Catalonia has it's own distinct language and culture and it was interesting to learn about it and experience it. As with Madrid and Granada, our time there was way too short.

For pictures click here.