Our second day in Barcelona dawned drippy as rain showers met us when we left the amazing breakfast spread at our hotel. We decided to forgo the hop/on & off bus because it would take too long to get to the stop for our first destination. We had early, timed entrance tickets for today. Our conscierge called a cab for us & we set off into the early morning traffic.
When you do your research for the must-see destinations in Barcelona the name Gaudi comes up often. Antoni Guadi is celebrated for his revolutionary contributions to architecture through his development of a unique organic style that integrates elements from nature, religion and Catalan culture. We saw several of his buildings and parks on our tour yesterday but the basilica La Sagrada Familia is probably the most well known. It is imposing as it towers over the city and is yet uncompleted with construction ongoing following Gaudi’s orginal concepts. By the time we arrived a torrential downpour was in progress as we negotiated our way throught the security checks and picked up our audiotour equipment. The tour starts by explaining the 3 outside facades that represent different stages in the life of Christ.
Each facade is starkly different with the Nativity Facade almost reminding you of sand sculptures you’ve seen at Virgina Beach competitions while the Passion Facade is stark and bare, almost skeletal. When you enter, the vastness of the space is striking as you notice how the light plays through the stained glass. The supporting structures & columns evoke a forest.
While we were in attendance there was a period when the organ was playing which contributed to the overall atmosphere and although my Catholic school upbringing ushered me into a significant number of churches, I was duly impressed. You’ve never seen anything like this place. Antoni Gaudi’s crypt is located one level below and contains multiple chapels. We moved through the areas as we followed along with the audiotour, our jaws slack and mouths agape while we tried to absorb it all. When we finally felt able to move on we visited the next door museum that showed in detail how the new construction was being carried out and how the old construction was done utilizing Gaudi’s original plans. We even watched a short film covering the history of the construction before & after Gaudi’s involvment (spoiler: he wasn’t the original architect.)
Our next destination was about a 1.5 mile walk from the church and despite the iffy nature of the weather we opted to take a chance so we headed out to find the Museu de la Musica. This stop was our homage to Doug Palmer our friend, cinamatographer, adventure buddy, all around nice guy & classically trained musician. Among the numerous instruments he can play is the classical Spanish guitar. This museum showcases a collection of world wide musical instruments spanning from ancient civilizations to modern times and features one of the world’s finest guitar collections. It was located a little bit outside of the more touristy sections of town and we decided to look for a spot to have some lunch before tackling the exhibits. Across from the entrance in the auditorium complex was a cafe that seemed to fit the bill. Interestingly, this was the first encounter we had since arriving in Barcelona where no one initially spoke English so we got to test our limited Spanish. A successful lunch ensued and then we entered the museum, donned our equipment and proceeded to explore the exhibits as the audiotour led us through a numbered course.
This turned out to be an interesting afternoon as the tour explained the instruments we were seeing and with the more unusual ones it included significant historical context. At the end of the exhibits was a room that had various instruments where you could have a hands on experience so we were treated to an all too brief impromptu performance from Doug.
Since we had been pounding the pavement all day and were far from our hotel Don set out and hailed us a cab. When we returned to the lobby we opted to cash in some free drink tickets we had received as a check-in perk so we made our way to the bar. At this point we discovered that many of our fellow cruisers had arrived since it was the evening before emarkation & the place was packed!
As the time for our reservation at the unique La Selva Steakhouse was approaching, we left for our rooms to refresh before jumping in our cab. La Selva was recommended by one of our desk clerks and it didn’t disappoint. It has a crazy jungle theme with areas where seats are suspended like swings but it has a delectable selection of aged beef and we very much enjoyed the experience.
We were so full upon being deposited back to Hotel Indigo that we couldn’t even imagine repacking that night. I think we did plop ourselves in an alcove of the lobby to continue our reveling a little longer. Fortunately, our check in time for embarkation was 12:00 p.m. the next day which left us time in the morning for reorganizing & tagging our baggage after we enjoyed more sumptuous selections from the breakfast buffet. Ugh! We haven’t even gotten on the ship yet and I fear I’ve already gained weight. Depite my ability to sleep well under most any circumstances the jet lag is kicking my ass tonight (the miles of walking, the wine and the food may also be a contributing factor to my state of exhaustion but one must carry on). Tomorrw we board the Celebrity Equinox and shove off for the French Riviera.
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