Barcelona - Day Five

My visit to La Sagrada Familia or Sacred Family Cathedral was a wonderful experience.  However I will just touch briefly on the most important points of its timeline as so much is already known of La Sagrada and its visionary creator, Antoni Gaudi. In 1883 he took on the role of Chief Architect and added flamboyance to the original neo-Gothic design. Unfortunately in 1926 Gaudi was hit by a tram and killed while crossing a street with only the crypt, the apse walls, one portal of the three envisaged and one tower completed. Gaudi originally devised a temple 95 metres long and 60 metres wide with a central tower 170 metres high situated above the transept and which would be able to seat 13,000 people. There would be another 17 towers of 100 metres or more with 12 of them representing the Apostles and  the other five paying homage to the Virgin Mary and the four Evangelists.
The Cathedral was blessed by Pope Benedict XV1 in 2010 and the massive project is expected to be completed in 2026 on the 100th anniversary of Antoni Gaudi's demise, crowned with the tallest church spire ever built. The inside of La Sagrada is almost complete and is an absolute joy to walk around. Gaudi was a brilliant mathematician who loved nature and this is reflected in the extraordinary angled pillars which soar towards the ceiling and which in turn sprout a web of supporting branches thus creating the illusion of a forest canopy. Natural light is filtered through the gorgeous Murano stained glass windows, which do not depict former saints but are there to display their brilliant array of colour. Today, after breakfast at you know where, I headed north of the Plaza de Catalunya to the more gentrified Gråcia disrict to explore its tiny plazas and narrow streets. On the way I happened across the 14th century Romanesque/Gothic Church of the Holy Conception and Assumption of Our Lady. Adjacent to and joined onto the church was a 15th century cloister,  which had come from the former Old Convent of Santa Maria de Jonqueres and lovingly reassembled brick by brick. One experiences a great feeling of tranquility as one walks around the cloister, no doubt by the addition of a verdant inner courtyard and trickling fountain. One of the rewarding aspects of exploring historical areas of great cities such as Barcelona is that one stumbles across local bistros and bars off the tourist track that just ooze character and quality. Such was La Caleta de Gråcia, a tiny bodega owned by a former fisherman, where I enjoyed a simple three course meal of gazpacho, salade de jamón and ice cream accompanied with crusty bread, a glass of lager with coffee to follow for 9 euros. Tomorrow I take the early bus south to Valencia.