Our tickets for entry to La Sagrada Familia were 12.15 - 12.30. Whilst I was having a coffee Richard thought he had located one of the Gaudi buildings we’d been looking for yesterday, it was actually Gaudi’s 1st major works, Casa Vicens. We made our way to La Sagrada past Casa Les Punxes, built by Cadafalch for the Terradas family in 1905. We arrived at La Sagrada just as the bells started ringing, so beautiful to walk through the garden, looking at the blossom & La Sagrada, listening to the bells, we later learnt that the bell towers had been designed specifically to ensure the bells sound good. We made our way to the entrance & through security & collected our audio guides. The audio was really good, explaining how it will look when finished, the aim being 2026 for the centenary of Gaudi’s death, building commenced in 1882, the temple was consecrated in 2010 & is now over 70% complete. The detail & thought put into the buildings is amazing, the height of the middle tower (the tower of Jesus Christ) which hasn’t been built yet is not quite as high as the highest peak on the mountain range behind. There are 12 other towers, one for each of the Apostoles. Inside the colours through the stain glass windows were stunning, the colours of greens & blues used the side capturing the morning light & oranges & reds used the side that captures the afternoon sun. The pillars inside are designed like trees with branches spreading out. We’d chosen to visit the passion tower, this is the most recent tower completed, it represents the passion & death of Jesus & we’d read had the better views across Barcelona. You head up in a lift, enter a viewing platform & then descend via stairs.
The view was amazing, both of Barcelona as well as the ornaments decorating the towers. We were both blown away & did go back into the basilica & sit for a while, trying to take everything in. Well worth the €32 entrance fee (includes the audio & tower access).
We found a bakery for lunch & headed to Passeig de Gràcia to find Casa Mila & Casa Batllo, Casa Batllo is still undergoing restoration & was covered with scaffolding & pictures of the buildings being restored. We purchased steak on the way home & also passed the Nespresso store with a mosaic “pod” in its window.