Barcelona : Day 6 : 20 Oct 2008

Our Barcelona travel league started with a visit to the Temple Expiatori De La Sagrada Familia. This, to me is the BEST of Gaudi-designed building. Again, this was my 2nd visit, but it did not differ much compared to year 2002. The construction was still on going, and the scaffoldings were everywhere; inside and outside. This building was featured in a Taiwanese drama, Meteor Garden 2, and I believe not many people knew that this building existed. More so, in this less-explored-but-famous Catalunya city.



To those who wants to know, it is a church and is still the most visited, people-accessible construction site in the world. Construction started in 1883, and in 2008, it was only 60% completed. There's another 18 years to go before we can see it completed. That is our target, to visit Sagrada Familia again in 2026.


> Sagrada Familia's History


> Sagrada in 1900s (23 years old)


> Sagrada in 1930s (58 years old)


> Sagrada in 2008 (125 years old)

To get here, we took the metro purple line from Passeig de Gracia and stopped at Sagrada Familia station. Entrance fee was E10/pax, and the main entrance was at Passion Facade. The opposite side of this squarish building is known as Nativity Facade. Highly recommended to check out this website to know it inside out: www.sagradafamilia.org.


> Passion Facade: Main Entrance


> Nativity Facade

Inside Sagrada Familia, it gave a feeling of being in a concrete forest. We were only allowed to walk on the perimeter, as the centre court was under construction. Gaudi got the inspiration from the forest, and the idea was explained in the 3rd picture.



We went up to one of the towers at Nativity Facade side, and the elevator to the top cost E2.50/pax. It was up by elevator, and down via spiral stairs on foot. The position we were at could easily be 20 stories high. This tower overlooked to the east side of Barcelona, and we saw the bullet-like Torre Agba Tower.