April 17/19 - Barcelona, Spain

Today Michael and I took separate tours out of necessity. He wanted to see the Gaudí (La Segrada Familia) Basilica, but sadly it would be too crowded to push me in the wheelchair, and I can’t do that much walking. I took a bus tour of the city which made two short stops - one was at a lookout point, and the other at the harbour. This is a city of almost 4 million people, and not at all what I thought it would look like. A few of the sites I saw were the Columbus Monument, Gaudí’s Basilica, the Olympic harbour and the Olympic Ring.

Michael’s tour of the Basilica was amazing! The guide told interesting stories about Gaudí himself and about the (ongoing) construction of the building. Construction has been underway for over a century; things went slowly for quite a while because money was tight, but as the building nears completion it has become a very popular tourist attraction. Ticket sales from visitors (over 4 million last year) have provided more cash, and completion is currently planned for 2026 to coincide with the one hundredth anniversary of Gaudí’s death. The church is astonishingly bright inside, and Gaudí’s design draws heavily on nature. The roof is supported by 56 pillars that resemble trees. Because the walls do not support the roof they can be very light, and so they are filled with a latticework of stained glass. It’s hard to do justice to the building in words - you’ll have to wait until we post photos when we get home! The tour also visited a couple of Gaudí’s other buildings in Barcelona.

This evening we went to a Flamenco with dinner event. We ate seafood paella at an Andalusian restaurant and watched Spanish Flamenco dancing, accompanied by singers and instruments (guitar, drum and violin). We thought that the best dancer was an older fellow in his 60’s, who brought down the house at the end. On our way back to the ship we had another bus tour of the city, which gave me a chance to take some more photos, and to see Gaudi’s cathderal better than I could see it during the morning tour. It’s such a huge attraction that buses cannot stop in front of it, but with the lighter traffic in the evening, the driver was able to go past it more slowly. Even from the outside it’s a wonder to behold.