- The city is largely grid-based.
- The streets are generally very pedestrian-friendly, with a lot of pedestrian-only zones.
- Although surrounded by hills, where there isn't the Mediterranean Sea of course, it is quite flat.
- Most things are in a quite compact area.
- When needed, the Metro (underground / subway / train system) is fast, efficient, and easy to use.
- Most people are happy to lend a hand and point you in the right direction.
Eduardo then tried (and I mean tried) to help me secure a ticket for the Sagrada Familia, as everyone has informed me that it's the best thing to do, particularly as the lines for tickets can stretch up to 2 hours or more (less in the off-season, but still up to an hour), and it's the only way to secure a spot on a tower tour. As you need a printer (which funny enough is one of the things I'm NOT travelling with) to print out your ticket, he offered to help me. However, try as we might, the system just wouldn't let us in. So, I knew that I would have to adopt a Plan C (Plan A had been to buy through the local Tourist Offices, but they can't any more apparently); so Eduardo looked up the local TicketMaster office locations (as apparently they control the on-line sales), and pointed me in the right direction, which was at the top end of Las Ramblas, which was actually my next target anyway.
So I bid Eduardo a fond farewell for the meantime, and headed off to find FANC, which I duly did quite easily. There, I found a rather surly woman at the ticketing desk, who informed me that they don't sell tickets to the Sagrada Familia, and she it didn't know who did.
Therefore, it was time for Plan D - just turn up sometime and hope for the best; but that story is for later.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it was time to ramble along Las Ramblas, one of the most famous streets in Barcelona, which is now a haven for tourist-trap trinket shops, overpriced pavement cafes, and pickpockets (of the three options, this is the one I fortunately didn't see, although I did manage to avoid all three).
The Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the only street in the world which I wish would never end."
A tree-lined pedestrian mall, La Rambla stretches for 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) connecting Plaça
de Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell. The course of La Rambla was originally a sewage-filled stream-bed, usually dry but an important drain for the heavy rainwater flowing from the Collserola hills during spring and autumn. It separated the walled city (Barri Gòtic) on its north-east bank from the settlements of El Raval ("the suburb") on its south-west.
In the year 1377, construction started on an extension of the city walls to include La Rambla and El Raval. In 1440, the stream was diverted to run outside the new walls, and La Rambla gradually started turning into a street.
Over the next few centuries, La Rambla became established as a centre of Barcelona city life, a long wide thoroughfare used for festivals, markets, and sports. Several large religious establishments were also built along the street during this period. These include the Jesuit Bethlehem monastery and college (1553), of which just the later church remains; the Carmelite St. Joseph's monastery, on the site of the current Boqueria market; and a Capuchin monastery at the lower end of the street.
In 1703, the first of the trees lining La Rambla were planted. Today, the middle part of the Rambla is pedestrianized and bordered by trees. Kiosks, flower stalls and street artists are in abundance here. Traffic passes on either side of the pedestrian area. The original buildings along the street were demolished but they are remembered in some of the names of the five different parts of the Rambla. Even though it is one continuous street, the Rambla actually consists of five 'ramblas'. That's why the street is also called Las Ramblas (Spanish) or Les Rambles (Catalan).
Along La Rambla sits the food market Merkat de la Boqueria - NOT to be confused with Meerkat de la Boqueria (not even sound the same).
The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, often simply referred to as La Boqueria, is a large public market and one of the city's foremost tourist landmarks, with a very diverse selection of goods. It's a lot like Adelaide's Central Market, or Melbourne's Victoria Markets - only much bigger and busier; there are also a number of stalls seemingly designed to take money from tourists in exchange for cut up pieces of fruit, when they could go around the corner and buy the whole fruit for a lot less.
The first mention of the Boqueria market in Barcelona dates from 1217, when tables were installed near the old city gate to sell meat. From December 1470 onwards, a pig market was held at this site; at this time it was known as Mercat Bornet. Later, until 1794, it was known simply as Mercat de la Palla, or straw market. In the beginning, the market was not enclosed and had no official status, being regarded simply as an extension of the Plaça Nova market, which extended to the Plaça del Pi.
Later, the authorities decided to construct a separate market on La Rambla, housing mainly fishmongers
and butchers. It was not until 1826 that the market was legally recognized, and a convention held in 1835 decided to build an official structure, with construction beginning on March 19, 1840. The market officially opened in the same year, but the plans for the building were modified many times. The inauguration of the structure finally took place in 1853. A new fish market opened in 1911, and the metal roof that still exists
today was constructed in 1914.
Then via the cable-car from Torre de St Sebastia to Torre de Jaume I, and around the Parc de Montjuic (Montjuic Park), the home of the afore-mentioned Olympics (the stadium is still here - a museum now), and with good views over the city.
The cable-car is thoroughly uninspiring, with at least a 30 minute wait for the 11 euro 5 minute trip across the water; take my advice, avoid it, and simply take the funicular up the mountain (that's how I got down again) for the price of a Metro ticket (around 2.30 euros if you don't have a multi-pass) and get much the same views from around the park itself.
Once again, I was struck by how low-rise the city centre is, particularly compared with Australian cities; there is no clearly identifiable CBD with large sky-scrapers sticking up in a clump; it's actually a rather refreshing change. The biggest building work visible is that of the Sagrada Familia.
In time, I found the end of a line which curled around the corner of a building, and so on the assumption that this must be the line for tickets, and with no idea of how long the line actually was, I joined it. In just 30 minutes (not bad, I'm told, but it is the low-season) I was at the front of the line. Now, understandably the tower tours were full for the day, and the only way to book a tower tour is on-line (you can't do it at the ticket booths - they only sell tickets for the day and time you show up), I decided that it was best to simply ignore the towers (obviously it wasn't meant to be - you go up in an elevator, after all), and take a tour of the church instead. The church has been named a minor basilica (whatever that means).
So, I should probably tell you a little about this place, and the architect (Gaudi) who designed it.
The Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece, is one of Barcelona's most popular tourist attractions. Construction on this church will continue until the middle of this Century - so the church-builders of old shouldn't feel too bad about how long they took for their constructions, given the lack of high-tech cranes and other building devices, and 3-D computer assisted design.
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family), was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor
basilica. Construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926 less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by (and damaged during) the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining.
The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona, over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design, and the recent proposal to build an underground tunnel of Spain's high-speed rail link to France could disturb its stability.
Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, "It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art" (I can understand why anyone would say this) and Paul Goldberger called it, "The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages."
Architects now have a clear idea of what Gaudí had in mind. The last version of his design called for a church 95m/312ft long and 60m/197ft wide. The church will be able to accommodate some 13,000 people. When finished, the Sagrada Família will have a total of eighteen towers. Four towers on each of the three facades represent the twelve apostles. The towers reach a height of 90 to 120m (394ft). Another four towers represent the four evangelists. They will surround the largest, 170m/558ft tall tower, dedicated to Jesus Christ. The last tower, dedicated to Virgin Mary, will be built over the apse.
However, with the ever-changing design and materials, what is left seems to be something of a mish-mash. Some of the design elements are unquestionably stunning, taking a leaf out of nature's designs and applying them brilliantly, and at times beautifully, to solve particular problems. But for me the whole lacks symmetry and isn't tied together: perhaps because it is as yet unfinished; perhaps because it is just too overwhelming, and you spend your time admiring the individual parts rather than the whole; or perhaps because of the Disney-land type atmosphere that it creates, complete with tourist groups being guided through, while others (me included) are intently listening to the audio-guide, and yet others (again, guilty your honour) eyeing the whole through a camera.
I was left with an empty feeling, and that this place lacks the soul that it is striving to achieve; so, while impressed with the architecture, design, and engineering solutions, I was somehow disappointed with the building itself.
Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't have photos to share with you: