Dedicated to the Holy Family, this church started construction in 1882. The famous architect Gaudi took over in 1883, drastically changing the look to incorporate more openness and natural looking elements.
We considered not going to see this but we had already paid for tickets. Mrs Ram focused on that rather than her back pain and said there was no way we were going to miss it.
When we arrived at the garage the sign said “livre” – available in Catalan. It took a bit to maneuver our little car into the tiny space downstairs. By the time we walked out it had changed to “complet” – full.
As we walked to the entrance, we paused for a picture.
You can see one of the cranes they were using to continue construction.
We walked slowly to the entrance on the other side where the security guard there saw how laboriously Mrs Ram was walking and hooked us up with a wheelchair.
From there we could see more signs of construction.
Our entrance fee included a tour in English! In Cordoba we had thought, “Who would want to be in one of those big groups following a woman with a flag.” Now we each had headsets tuned to a guide if our own who was holding up a flag.
The north entrance had depictions of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. One of the unique sculptures depicted Jesus working as a carpenter.
Inside Gaudi’s move to a more “natural” design opened up the interior and produced a spectacular space.
All lighting in the church is natural.
The doors on the south side intrigued Mrs Ram. They contained hundreds of small, intricate details, some of which made no sense.
Is that a Borg Cube?
After our tour we were tired and hungry. We had to leave the wheel chair at the exit and headed back to the parking garage. As we passed the Casa Angela, we thought we scored an outside table as a couple got up. However the waiter already had someone lined up for that table. The cool, inside drew us in and Mrs Ram chose a table by the bar. Our waiter and bartender, Cecil, spoke very good English and we enjoyed having some discussions about the church, the food the US, Spain and his native Dominican Republic.
After several drinks we ordered their chicken Paella and it was delicious.