Jenn's Taksidia: La Sagrada Familia

Wednesday, June 26th

Today is the day I saw the Sagrada Familia. I had booked my ticket for 2pm so I started the day by wandering through the Boqueria Market. It's a giant food market tucked into Las Ramblas, the most famous street of Barcelona. Most of the stands sell fruit or meat or fish. I got some fruit for breakfast then headed over to the Sagrada Familia.

I got there early so I could take pictures outside. The church is massive. I had bought the ticket online because then you don't have to wait in line, plus I got a discount.

When I went in, I went to pick up my audio guide first. The guy asked what language and I answered him in Spanish. He said "you speak very nice Spanish." All I had said was "in English, please". Ha!

The cathedral has at least six towers, two of which are open. You can pick one of the two towers to go up when you buy your ticket. I picked the taller of the two towers. Because if you're going to go up high, you should go as high as you can right? They take you up in an elevator and then you walk down the stairs. I was in picture taking heaven. The view of the city was fantastic, but my favorite part was being so close to all of the details of the cathedral.

Once I'd seen every last inch of the Sagrada Familia, I took the bus to Park Guell which is another Gaudi creation. It was originally meant to be part of a planned community. But nobody wanted to live there so it's just a park. It was cool to see but crammed with people because it's so well known and it's free.

I had originally told myself I'd just go inside the one Gaudi house and look at the other, La Pedrera, from outside. Then I found out they had tour called La Pedrera Secreta which was at night. Of course, I had to do it. The courtyard of the building was really impressive. The apartment they show you was neat but Casa Batllo was better. The best part of La Pedrera is the roof. It has these crazy chimneys that look like knights. Seeing it at night was stunning.