We rode the bus for awhile saw lots of sights including the 1992 Olympic Stadium and also saw the outskirts of Barcelona. We finally got off the bus in an area of Barcelona called Barri Gotic the Gothic Quarter. Our first sight was the cathedral shown below. It was massaive. It seemed like you could put ten LDS Temples inside of it. It was dark inside and they were trying to hold mass as all the trourists were milling around. We could even stand next to the confessionals and listen in. It's strange, some places in the cathedral you could take pictures and other places you could not. This was true throughout our trip.
After this we walked through the narrow streets to a much smaller cathedral. We found the bathrooms fascinating on our trip. The one in this little cathedral had no toilet seat and no toilet paper. But the men's room did not even have a door and it was right across from the women's in plain sight. We went down to the main plaza and decided to walk down a street to find a place to eat. Found a quaint little restaurant that had excellent pizza. Even better than the pizzza we had in Italy. When we left the restaurant we heard a loud commotion going on down the street we had just exited. A large group of bicyclists rode by and from our vantage point it appeared they were skinny riding. Wade and Dennis flew down the street to get a better look. Sure enough they reported the riders, both female and male, were unclothed. However, from behind it was hard to tell which were male and which were female, they said. We have since learned there is a ceremonial burning of the bicycle seats after such a ride.
After that excitement we boarded the bus again to head to our next destination. Our next stop was a street trolley, that took us to a Funicular or mountain tram, that took us to Tibidabo with yet another cathedral. This cathedral happened to have an amusement park along side of it. The cathedral "boasts magnificent views of the city". After climbing the stairs to the front door of the cathedral we took an elevator part way up the cathedral. We then had to climb, climb, and climb some more stairs to get to the base of the statue of Christ (see picture below). The views were amazing. You can see all over the city and all over the city this cathedral can be seen. We noticed it from the airport two weeks later as we were headed home.
We rode all the way back down and then walked all the way back up after another brief trip on the hop on hop off bus. This time our destination was Park Guell. The park was originally owned by Eusebi Guell who hired an architect named Gaudi to design the homes. No one liked the architecture and the site was donated to the city in 1923 as a park (picture below). This Gaudi also worked on the Sagrada Familia most of his life. This will be discussed later.
Walked all the way back down. Back on the hop on hop off and off to see the Sagrada Familia (picutred below). We were going to get off the bus and tour the cathedral until we saw the entrance line that was over a square block long and four across. The Sagrada Familia is still under construction. It is Gaudi's dream, to which he devoted much of his life. At the time of his death in 1926, only one of the towers had been completed. It is now funded by visitors. It towers above the nearby buildings and can be seen from miles away. It is really ornate and colorful, and that was just the outside.
At some point on our bus ride we ended up inside the bus instead of on top. I noticed a young couple sitting in front of us that were examining each others tonsils. Of course I had to bring it to Wade's attention which he thanked me for profusely. It got more than a little bit disgusting. Of course we then had to tell Dennis and then Teena. They were very appreciative too for the information. Teena even said "you had to point that out didn't you"? We were very grateful when the couple decided to take the show upstairs.
In order to return to our starting point we needed to switch Bus Turistic lines. We took our seats on top of the bus and pulled out just as we noticed one of the couples traveling with us was still standing at the bus stop. They had lost their bus tickets and had to buy more. We waved goodbye and yelled that we would wait for them at the next destination. So we did. It ended up costing them and extra 46 Euros to ride the bus for ten minutes. They made it, we ate and headed on foot to our last destination in Barcelona.
It was the Magic Fountain. It was dusk when we arrived and by the time the show ended it was dark. The water in the fountain danced with a variety of different colored lights and music. It was a relaxing end to our 14 hour day.
All the pictures are courtesy of the internet. Our camera was inadvertently left in the hotel room.
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