Day 3 (February 15, 2020): From Picasso to the most lavish cathedral on earth!

Having gone close to 40 hours with literally about an hour of sleep, we set the alarm for 8AM to give ourselves some catch-up rest.  But wow, when that thing went off at 8AM (which was 3AM back home), we really felt the sleep deprivation and jetlag badly.  We moved slowly, took a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and hit the pavement at 10:15.  Saturday required us to cover a lot of ground, with a 3PM reservation for the famous Sagrada Familia, so we felt guilty for the sleep-in, but needed it badly.

Museums tend to take a lot of brain power, so we headed to the Picasso Museum first.  Now, we have never been huge fans of Picasso. But the museum did a wonderful job of showing the evolution of his art from the late 1890s through many influences of writers, poets and other artists around Spain and in France.  We left the Museum with a better understanding of, and appreciation for, his work and genius.  And what's more, we discovered he was more than a painter:  he also wrote poetry, did pottery and wrote plays.  Truly a brilliant man.

From there, we made our way to the Parc de la Ciutadella (Park of the Citadel), featuring a massive 2-tier fountain and monument.  And what a well-used park!  It was teeming with families, tourists, vendors and recreationists, all enjoying the 17C sunny day.  Next stop was Barcelona's version of the Arc de Triumph, before heading to the Cathedral of Barcelona and on to waterfront.  Then we made our way to the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia for our reserved visit.  And oh, the crowds! We had heard that Barcelona is empty of tourists in February.  Not so!  The city was crawling with people everywhere we went.  And the Sagrada Familia was literally teeming with tourists.

After that, we sat at a tapas bar overlooking the Basilica.  Once rested, we headed to see a few of the houses designed by Barcelona´s beloved architect, Gaudi, who devoted his life working on the Basilica.  Finally, we headed back to the hotel for a short rest before getting dinner and taking in a couple of additional sights for the ''ILUM BCN 2020'' - an annual a festival of light that aims to counter the darkness of winter with light (''ilum'' means 'light' in Catalan).

So there you have it!  A very full day that included 16.25 kilometres of walking.  If you see ''zzzzzz's'' in the captions below, it simply means I fell asleep while trying to write them up!

At the Picasso Museum.  A special exhibition focusing on Picasso's poetry.


One of Picasso's greatest works was a reproduction of Velaquez's Las Meninas (1656).  In 1957, he created more than 40 large works, taking the various subjects in the painting and re-interpreting them.  The resulting panels are stunning, even if you don't particularly care for his abstract designs.



The grandeur of the room didn't really fit the abstract pottery of Picasso.


The two-tier fountain and stair-filled monument at Parc de la Ciutadella.


The Arc de Triomf, built to commemorate the Universal Exhibition held in Barcelona in 1888.


The Cathedral of Barcelona, a Gothic cathedral dating back to the 13th century.




The Cathedral features a rooftop walk.  Dandelions in February!




The Cathedral has had 13 geese (representing the disciples, including Judas) for, well, a long time.


The Pont Gotic (Gothic Bridge).  Very similar to the one in Venice!


The black column at the end of La Rambla, the city's most famous pedestrian way that we visited last night, is the Mirador de Colom - an ornate Corinthian column topped with Columbus' statue, built to mark the Universal Exhibition of 1888.


At the Rambla de Mar, the main marina on the Barcelona waterfront.



And finally, our 3PM reservation at the Sagrada Familia arrived!  Please indulge us as we show a number of photos that try to explain the grandeur of this masterpiece.  Started in the 1880s, it will be completed in 2026 to mark the 100th anniversary of Antoni Gaudi's death.  It will have 18 towers by the time it is completed, the highest being the Jesus Tower, at 172.5 meters.  Why that height?  Because it is just shy of the highest peak in the area, and Gaudi was adamant that no man-made structure should exceed the height of God´s creation.

The Nativity Facade.

Although it may look like a blob of melted wax from a a distance, a close-up look reveals the intricate detail of the Basilica’s exterior - in this case, the Nativity Facade. 

The Passion Facade.







And now, let's move inside...  We had read that late afternoon is an excellent time to visit, as the sun is lower in the sky and floods the interior.  What excellent advice that was!









The view from the top of the Nativity Tower in the Sagrada Família. The photo below shows the modern part of the city where we are staying. 





Visiting the Sagrada Familia is up there with all the great man-made structures on the planet.  You leave with a huge smile on your face for what you have seen and experienced.

Casa Batilo, a fantastical set of apartments designed by Antoni Gaudi, the chief designer on the Sagrada Familia.


Casa Vicens, a grand 4'floor house, designed by Antoni Gaudi, with Moorish influences.


An old water-filling station, complete with gas lamps, outside a mission.


Barcelona does have a lot of graffiti, especially on the steel doors covering the shops.  This owner seems to have made a preemptive strike, however, by painting his door before anyone could beat him to it.  It reflects the influence of Picasso in a town that reveres him.


Two light installations at ILUM BCN 2020 (''Ilimunate Barcelona'').  Both included sound -- the first, the sound of the ocean, the second, the sound of thunder and an erupting volcano.