davidandmarta.blogspot.com: spain day 3

let's call this one gaudi day, because visiting barcelona's major gaudi designed locales was the agenda.

wake up kids! we've got architectural tours to take!

the basilica sagrada familia was only a few blocks walk from us, and it was a stunningly beautiful monday morning for a walk. we arrived at this big catholic church, still very much under construction, and quite obviously an overgrown massive pile of gaudi design, and it quite took our breath away. we could see it from our rooftop at the apartment, but up close, it is exceptional, and i doubt you could look upon it long enough to actually see all the detail in the facade alone.

inside is every bit as gorgeous as the exterior, and i think the chapel was my favorite part of the experience.

once inside, we coerced james to swallow down his tears and fears regarding the elevator ride, and we rode up the nativity tower, and finished the climb off with some stairs until...

....boom! we were outside, way high up, outside, on a little bridge connecting one tower to another.

ramona and i were so happy--the views! the height! the towers! david and james were not so happy--the height! they found the stairs and went straight down.

ramona and i took our time and peeked at the spire-top fruit (i think that's fruit?) detail,

the balcony views of barcelona,

the nautilus shell of a staircase.

back in the chapel, we shared an audio tour guide

and the light stole the show.

outside, and so happy,

and we found a playground across from the church,

and we found a street vendor with fans, which the kids had their hearts set on.

and when they picked out and bought fans, the fans because a centerpiece of the day.

even at lunch.

after lunch, we walked up up up up the hill to get to the gaudi-designed parc guell, and i'm going to go ahead and admit that it was a mistake to force those kids to walk in the hot sunny afternoon straight uphill for a pretty long slog and then hope that they would have energy left to take a walking tour of a crowded massive park. there. i admitted it. we should've taken a cab.

silver lining: we found this on the walk up the hill.

this picture taken by a stranger of all 4 of us on the beautiful serpentine mosaic bench in the park was the only thing with the power to stop a giant fight brewing between the kids.

but then the stranger handed the camera back and the fight re-commenced. but look at this pretty view over the bench toward the park entrance and the sea, downhill across barcelona! gorgeous!

and look at this view of a totally nackered nine year old.

under the benches was a cool shaded stone grotto of columns, originally designed to be home to an outdoor market that never materialized.

and looking up at the columns and the serpentine bench above from, the view from the entrance. it's a really masterful piece of art.

tired child draped over park wall..

but then everyone perked up, and we found a tunnel in the park built to look like a cresting wave, and then we saw those two pigeons mating, and the kids fell over into fits of laughter, and all was again right in the world.

we even pretended to hang 10 in the wave.

oh, and fans.

learning from our mistakes, we took a cab ride back down the hill and home for a rest time. but only a little while, because we had more to do! we headed back down to the city center, peeked at an early gaudi building, the palau guell,

and then found a back alleyway with an entrance to the boqueria market. if you look closely at the sign hanging from the balcony above the market entrance, you'll see one person's opinion of the presence of tourists in barcelona.... spoiler: they'd like us all to go home now.

don't worry angry person! we were on our last day in barcelona, and would be leaving early the next morning....but not before buying a little more iberian ham and manchego cheese in a little paper bag,

not before picking out some market apples,

not before looking at the fish stand and deciding the fish heads and their ilk all smell really bad.

just next to the market are restaurants that cook with foods purchased that day in the market, so we went all-in on another giant seafood extravaganza. once again, ramona was thrilled, and james ate bread.

at the end of the meal, the server said "this is on the house" and brought this mystery yellow liquid and two shot glasses, and then walked away. so we did what anyone would do: hand the camera to the kids and pour out some shots of the mystery substance. subsequent research reveals the drink to be a brandy digestif from northern spain, made from smashed grape remnants after wine production. one taste was more than enough.