Lost at Sea: Beguiling Barcelona

With the sale of Pavlov done and dusted, we couldn't just sit around contemplating our land-lubber status while swallowing the bitter anchor in our dismalé apartment. A road trip was in order, and what better way to go to windward than in a quirky Citroen rental car that insisted on turning on the radio to its favourite station each time we started her. We decided to drive down to Barcelona, to add a bit of Olé to our lives. We drove through the marshy flat Camargue, full of pink flamingoes and French cow-boys. First stop was the lovely French coastal town of Séte.

Canals in Sété.

Loved the wrought iron balconies

From Séte, we crossed the border into Spain. Barcelona beckoned.

Barcelona street

If Europe has awakened a keen interest in architecture for both of us, then Barcelona just blew our minds. Top of the stack is, of course, Antoni Gaudi. The Sagrada Familia is the most visited site in all of Spain, and it was just totally awe-inspiring. I've seen a LOT of churches in the last few years, and am pretty jaded after the glories of Rome and Paris, but I just felt a sense of numinous awe inside this temple. While we are staunch atheists, Gaudi's creation invoked a sense of transcendence and the wonder of nature. His forms are inspired by natural organic processes but also have a higher mathematical quality that juxtaposes the Platonic solids with processes of growth and organic symmetry. Amazing! the quality of that man's mind. Here are some shots of the exterior of the church, which is still incomplete. It is scheduled to be completed in 2026, and will have taken 144 years to build.

The incomplete spires of the Passion façade

Main entrance of the Passion façade

Cubist sculptures

Auxilliary dome

In-spire-ational

Another view of the Nativity façade

Elaborate carving at the Nativity façade

Although the exterior of the church is amazing, it is the interior that evokes the true sense of wonder. It is like being inside a forest, with rainbow light colours being filtered through a dense canopy of leaves. Gaudi used tree metaphors in his design, as well as the triangular to hexagonal and back transformations found inside an oleander branch.

Main dome

Gaudi's inspiration comes from trees and plant growth

The light inside the temple was remarkable

One of the main stained glass windows

The detail as you look up is just startling

More details

All this colour comes from sunlight through the windows

Surely a glimpse of heaven?

Words fail...

Gaudi was apparently a difficult, arrogant and reclusive soul. In his later years, he lived in the cathedral and devoted all his time to its design. Interestingly, he did not draft the design, but worked directly with 3D plaster models, from which the final components were built. The ideas behind the cathedral consumed more and more of his being, with a consequent neglect of his own dress and demeanour. He died after being run over by a tram, he looked like a pauper so no aid was rendered to him, and he was given hospital care too late to save him. Ironic that now there is a movement to beatify him.

We also visited Park Guel that he also designed.

One of Gaudi's rare sketches

A plaster model used to design the main pillars

Entrance to Park Guel.

The gate-keepers house at Park Guel.

A Gaudi moisa

Mosaic seating on the roof

The gift shop

Wrought iron gate

We walked the streets at night, sampled the tapas bars, rode on the Metro and funiculars and generally did city things. We just loved this vibrant and alive town, and hope to spend more time here one day.