The Zoo
I was a little bit bummed that it cost 16 euro to get in, but I love animals and I love zoos, so I figured it would be worth it! For a relatively small zoo, there were a TON of exhibits and animals. On the downside, though, all of the animals were kept in really small cages or habitats. There didn’t seem to be nearly enough room for them to roam around, nor did their homes seem to be clean. That was a little bit disappointing, but it was still a good time and I’m glad I went. I liked that at every exhibit they listed the name of the animal in Catalan, Spanish, and English, and had a description of the animal in each language too.
There were even a few animals I’d never heard of or seen before, like the Capybara, the world’s largest rodent. (Interesting, right?!)
We got to go to a dolphin show at the zoo too, and while it was nothing compared to the shows I’ve seen at Hershey or Sea World, dolphin shows are always fun, and it was a new experience to try and understand what they were saying in Spanish.
After the zoo I came home and had dinner with Maggie (who opted to skip the zoo, which was probably a good choice considering the endless amounts of birds flying around there).
La Sagrada Familia
We finally made it to Barcelona’s most famous attraction – La Sagrada Familia. (translated to “The Holy Family” in English) It’s claim to fame is that it was designed by Gaudi, Barcelona’s most famous artist. It was begun sometime in 1882 and is STILL being built today! Crazy, right? The construction is done by private companies and is all funded through donations and entry fees to the church. It isn’t projected to be finished until at least 2026! I hope I can make it back here to see it when it’s finished!
We opted not to pay the 14 euro to go in because we’d heard that it wasn’t really worth it and that the outside was the part to see. (And when we got there and saw the enormous line of tourists standing in the sun waiting to go in, we were even surer of our decision!)
The church has 18 spires, each one representing one of the 12 apostles, the 4 evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ. There are 3 different sides, though 1 was under construction and hard to see. The original, famous side, which was completed while Gaudi was still alive, looks kind of like one of those drippy castles you make at the beach with wet sand. (Did I just compare Gaudi’s most prestigious work of art to a pile of wet sand? Oops. Sorry Gaudi!) However, once you see it close up, the detail and artistry of every single inch of the building is absolutely amazing. You realize why it’s taken so long when you see all of the intricate details in the cement. (Not to mention, the thing is HUGE!) This side was meant to represent the Nativity, or Christ’s birth.
The other main side is meant to represent the Passion, or Christ’s death and Resurrection. This side was built after Gaudi died, and although his designs were used in creating it, it looks MUCH different from the first side. It’s much more modern and severe, and doesn’t look like anything else I’ve seen of Gaudi.
He’s probably rolling over in his grave over it right now.
La Catedral
We ventured into Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic) to see La Catedral, a beautiful Catalan church built in the 1300’s. We tried to go a few days earlier but learned that you need to have your shoulders and knees covered, so we returned a few days later with the right clothing. The entire inside is edged with little chapels devoted to particular saints or events. There was a baptismal font, a confessional, and a huge choir loft. It kind of felt like a tourist trap though – you could pay to have your confession heard, every chapel had a donation box asking you to donate money, and then there was the gift shop (obviously).
It was still really beautiful, though, and I was glad we went to see it.
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