November 3, 2024
Over our 40 years of traveling we have never had a piece of luggage not arrive at our destination until yesterday. We arrived in Barcelona with no problems until luggage claim where one of our pieces was not there. We reported our missing luggage to lost luggage and were told through the magic of the internet that said piece of luggage was still in Frankfurt. It is Sunday evening as we compose this blog post and we still have not received our lost bag. Fortunately our cruise does not leave until Wednesday so there is time for it to arrive.
A quick aside. As Lynda naps, Tim is composing the blog in our hotel's bar enjoying a gin and tonic and a wonderful Spanish tradition. Instead of nuts being served as an accompaniment to the drink, there is a small dish of olives. Excellent, unless you don't enjoy fresh Spanish olives.
We booked a 3 day pre-cruise tour of Barcelona which starts tomorrow. We came a day early on purpose. Today was Antoni Gaudi day. Gaudi was a late 19th century Spanish architect and designer. He designed both Park Guell and Sagrada Familia which we visited today. We started our visit at Park Guell (pronounce Park Well) and then continued on to Sagrada Familia (pronounce Sagrada Familia), both designed by Gaudi. We were in Barcelona seven years ago and visited Park Guell but did not do it justice. Today we discussed this faux paux and could not come up with a reason for it occurring. The park is located on a high hill over looking Barcelona. Our primary destination in the park was a large open area that featured stunning views of Barcelona, including the Sagrada Familia. The main feature of this open area, aside from its view of Barcelona, is a large semi-circular concrete bench enbeded with beautiful, colorfully contemporary, mosaics. Check out Tim's Facebook page for pictures. As we were walking about the park we heard and saw many wild parakeets in the palm trees. Tim commented that thep poor birds probably never learned to talk. We also walked past several artists displaying their work. One caught our eyes. A small depiction of the towers of the Sagrada Familia. You will see it on the wall in the lower level of our house providing us a beautiful memory of our time in Barcelona.
Leaving Park Guell, we took a taxi to the Sagrada Familia. Before leaving home we had reserved tickets at specific times for both venues. We arrived at the Sagrada Familia well ahead of our reserved time and were lucky to find an outdoor table at a small bar/restaurant directly in front of this magnificent Catheral. We visited the Cathedral seven years ago, but because our tour tomorrow only does a drive-by visit, we wanted to go inside again. As we sat at our table having lunch we noticed many changes from our previous visit. Seven years ago there were very few restaurants in the immediate area. Now there are many that, unfortunately, include McDonalds, Five Guys, and KFC. Building the Sagrada Familia began in 1886 and is still not complete. Our time sitting having lunch enabled us to spend time observing all that had been done to the exterior since out last visit. We both remarked that seven years ago we had not taken enough time to immerse ourselves into the intricacies of the exterior of the building. The next surprise was when we entered the Cathedral. Seven years ago we also needed a timed ticket to enter but we just went through a gate where our ticket was checked and we went into the building. Today we went through a very involved security procedure that would put airport security to shapme. Besides the usual removing every thing from our pockets, we were also required to remove watches. We have visited many of the major Cathedrals of Europe. From a classical point of view, our favorite cathedral exterior is Notre Dame in Paris. Our favorite classical interior is St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City. But because we love contemporary art, the Sagrada Familia is our favorite inside and out. We spent an hour inside the Cathedral just sitting and absorbing the stunning beauty of this immense edifice. Again, check Tim's Facebook page for pictures.
Today was a wonderful start to this great adventure we are pursuing. Tomorrow we begin our pre-cruise tour.
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