Holiday Weekend in Barcelona

Friday, Apr. 28, 2017--Barcelona

The Residencia has a decent breakfast.  I was surprised.  In both France and Spain, breakfast is generally very light--coffee, juice, and a pastry--for a high price in hotels--8-10 Euros ($9-11 US).  Breakfast is included with the price of this place which had a simple, but nice buffet: warm Spanish tortilla (a large, thick pancake-shaped potato and egg concoction that is cut into slices like a pie or quiche), warm sausages and pieces of ham, boiled eggs, cold slices of ham and cheese, jam, butter, bread slices, two kinds of pastries, orange juice, coffee, and fresh pears, apples, and oranges.

Today was my day to tour the Sagrada Familia, the church that has been under construction for over 100 years and was designed by Gaudi.  When I was here before, I walked around it on the outside, but there were so many tourists in line for tickets that I didn't even try to get inside.  This year, I ordered a ticket online, and I got it for an entrance at 9:15 in hopes that I might beat the large number of group tours that fill the place.

I was lucky.  There were people inside, but it wasn't crowded.  I was able to listen to my audio guide and take photos without having to worry about being in anyone's way or anyone being in my way.  However, by the time I finished the last stop on the audio tour and went back into the church around 10:15, the group tours were arriving.  People were EVERYWHERE!!  Since I already had my photos, I was mainly walking around looking at details and at nooks I had missed while following the audio guide.  Then I headed to the museum that tells about the design and construction of the church.  Only one or two groups had made it there so far, so I was lucky again.  It was 11:15 by the time I left the church.

I enjoyed seeing the building.  It has some outstanding features--the support columns that branch out like trees to hold up the various external towers, the beautiful and large stained glass windows that give it so much colorful light, the external sculptural features, the beautiful external towers, etc.  Gaudi died in 1926 with the church barely started.  In 1930, Gaudi's workshop with all the plans, models, and photographs was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War.  Therefore, the architects have had little to guide them in carrying out Gaudi's designs.  Add to that the fact that labor is much more expensive now than it was then.  So it is obvious that the newer portions of the church are in general much simpler in design and construction than they might have been if Gaudi had guided the construction himself.  I can see why Ramon, an architect here, wrote to suggest that I tour a home designed by Gaudi called Bellesguard rather than the church.

There are many other buildings designed by Gaudi here, and I have seen most of them on the previous trip and passed by several of them again today as I walked to the church.  Here is a website showing some of his more outstanding buildings here in Barcelona.

From the church, I walked to the Sants Train Station.  I needed to buy my senior discount card to use in purchasing tickets and to buy my ticket for going to Zaragoza on Monday.  Well, this was not a good day to walk across town or to go to the train station!  European Labor Day is May 1.  Since May 1 is a Monday this year, there is a long holiday weekend which promotes travel.  Traffic was heavy on the streets, and drivers were honking when it didn't move.  When I got my number at the station for waiting to be called to buy my ticket, they were helping number 116.  My number was 253!!!  It took an hour of sitting until I could go to the counter.  And it went faster than it might have, because a lot of people didn't go to the counter when their numbers were called; apparently they gave up rather than waiting after they saw how far away their number would be before being called.

Fortunately, I got the train I wanted.  As I considered the size of the crowds traveling for the weekend (and heard one American couple being told that all trains to their destination were sold out until one this evening), I was afraid the train to Zaragoza might be booked solid with people returning from trips here to Barcelona for the holidays.  When I did get my ticket, I was surprised by its price.  My train tickets in France were so much cheaper than here.  I am taking a 2-hour train trip, and my senior discounted ticket was 34 Euros--about $38 US.  All the bus tickets I bought before making the trip were much cheaper, so I may try to use buses the rest of the time rather than trying to take trains.  One 9-hour bus trip at the end of my travels was less than the price of this train ticket.

I must have walked at least 7 miles today.  But it seemed longer.  Intersections here in Barcelona are 8-sided for pedestrians.  Pedestrians are forced to go around the corner a ways before they have a crosswalk.  So you walk a block, go around the corner, use the crosswalk, go back to the corner on that side of the block, and continue down the street to where you are going.  Unfortunately, I didn't really see anything special I had not seen on my previous trip.  But I was frequently reminded of the beautiful old buildings that exist here, especially the ones with fancy domes, globes, towers, etc., on them.  Unfortunately, it is not easy to find photos of them online; everyone takes photos of the Gaudi buildings to post!