This was our first view of the famous "Gaudi" designed cathedral, "La Sagrada Familia"or "The Holy Family". It was begun in 1882, and is still unfinished. As usual we were taken on a tour round the city to get an idea of the place, before driving back into Barcelona itself. From "Montjuic"hill, originally a Jewish area, we could see right across the city - it was the main site for the 1992 Olympics, although little is left now. It is a rather pretty park, with a chair lift down to the post. Apparently there is a museum there, with 12th and 13th century frescos on display, but needless to say... no museum for us.
We then drove on to "Pueblo Espanol on Montjuic", a mock spanish village, representing architectural styles from all over Spain - this was fascinating, and we spent a decent amount of time there. It is built like a proper town, but there is nothing behind the facades, although on the ground level there were an amazing sellection of boutique type shops. We walked as far as we could through the village, but the steps up to the side of the church defeated us, and we walked slowly through the lower and flatter levels, along with several other people, I was relieved to see! The church, below, is decorated with amazing tiles - I could not get a decent picture, unfortunately.
The colours of the buildings were really interesting, with a lot of different stones and colours, and patterns.
Eventually we drove on, having relieved some of the shops of some of their goods - we can shop for England! There was hand blown (I always think that should be "mouth blown!) ceramics, and an art shop where I bought a print of a charming sketch of a cat. More about the city in my next blog.
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