It’s funny how when I am traveling I have zero difficulty in
switching to a regular day schedule (as opposed to my usual nocturnal work
schedule). I went to bed last night at about 11:00, was awake by 7:00, and out
the door by 8:30. For me that is a rarity when I am not traveling, and yet it
seems to come so easily when I am on the road. I’m not really sure why.
As I mentioned in my last post, I am staying in a hostel for
the first time ever here in Barcelona. It has been an interesting experience.
The hostel I am staying at is called Equity Point Centric, with a great
location on the Passeig de Gràcia. It is certainly a clean and well-run
establishment. The staff are all helpful and professional, and some are pretty
friendly. I am among the oldest people staying here though. The common room,
the only place where I can plug in my phone and laptop and access wi-fi, is
like a combination bar/hangout spot, and tends to be loud and full of kids,
especially at night. My bed is in a 6-bunk room, and my roommates are quiet and
considerate, but there is virtually no privacy except behind a closed bathroom
door (and even then everyone can hear everything you’re doing). I have had some
good conversations with my roommates in Spanish, English, and German, which has
been nice. You can’t help but meet and talk to people in a hostel. Given the
close proximity and lack of privacy, it is pretty much impossible to avoid (which
I would generally consider to be a good thing). That being said, I think the
vibe is just a bit too young for me. I would like some quiet time to myself to
relax and write and reflect on the day, but it’s very difficult to do that with
crowds talking, yelling, and laughing in your ear, with music blaring, and with
people everywhere. Staying here is certainly a great way to save money, and for
cheap, clean, and secure lodging it can’t be beat, but I think the hostel thing
would be better for someone younger and more interested in typical young people
stuff. I’m glad I gave it a try, and I’ll be staying at a couple of other
hostels on this trip, but I think in the future I’ll pass on them.
So like I said I was out the door fairly early this morning,
and my first destination was the Sagrada Família (translation: The Holy Family) cathedral. You have probably
seen pictures of it at some point; it is one of the most unique buildings I
have ever seen. In the tradition of the Middle Ages, when churches took decades
and sometimes centuries to build, the Sagrada Família has been under
construction since 1882. That’s right; the church was started more than 100
years ago and still is not finished (not even close).
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| The Sagrada Familia is still under construction |
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| The Sagrada Familia from down the street |
Its principal architect
was Antoni Gaudí, the great Catalan architect who was essentially the father of
the Modernisme architectural movement. You see Gaudí buildings, or Gaudí-inspired
buildings, all over Barcelona, characterized by bright colors, playful shapes
and structures, and reflections of nature in architecture. While still
unfinished, the Sagrada Família exhibits all of these themes on a monumental
scale. It is absolutely huge. Its most distinctive feature, the eight pointed
towers, are taller than a football field is long. When the church is finished
it will have eighteen of them, and at the center will be an even more massive
Jesus tower, at a planned 560 feet.
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| Exterior of the Sagrada Familia |
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| A model depicting what the cathedral will look like when finished |
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| The Passion facade entrance (currently the main entrance) |
When you enter, you are struck first by its
size. Aside from Saint Peter’s in Rome, I cannot think of a church I have ever
been to in Europe that felt bigger. Partly that is due to its size, but also
its design lends to the feeling of space. Inside, the church has probably the
most unconventional interior I have ever seen in a European church (or an
American one for that matter). It is filled with columns, but not like ones you’d
typically see in a church; rather, these ones are like tree trunks, with jagged
modernist limbs reaching up and holding the ceiling aloft like a canopy of
leaves. Its decoration, with stained glass and modernist emblems for each of
the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), is both playful and
spiritually evocative. When you are inside the Sagrada Família you know you are
in a church, you feel like you are in a church, but you also feel like you are
in a church like no other. Gaudí’s architecture is disarming; it lets you
appreciate the somber, reflective mood of the church, but in a way which feels
accessible and welcoming. It is imposing, but in an inviting way. One might
normally consider that a contradiction, but Gaudí proved that it need not
necessarily be. The Sagrada Família is perhaps the only grand cathedral I have
ever known to have that quality of being both impressive and imposing and yet also
charming and inviting at the same time.
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| Interior of the Sagrada Familia |
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| Interior of the Sagrada Familia |
It’s getting too late for me to continue this post, so I’m
going to interrupt it here and get myself to bed. I spent the rest of today
visiting Gaudí’s Park Güell and the excellent Picasso Museum, but I’ll have to
tell you about that in another post. For now I’ll say goodnight wish everyone back home well.
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| Park Güell |
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| Park Güell |
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