Barcelona
Trip Start
May 12, 2009
1
12
52
Trip End
May 12, 2009
Barcelona,
Catalonia,
Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, July 4, 2009
It was hot today, but it has cooled off nicely this evening.
Its kind of busy here. A busy road runs right past us. Noisy young people are all around us, drinking cheap draft beer. The train is running on the other side of the road. The Mediteranean is on the other side of that. Its not like camping on Hecla Island, that is for sure.
Today we visited the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona. We took the train right from the campground, and it took us right to the core of the city.
What a church! Google it. It has been under construction for more than a hundred years, and is no where near finished. It is a massive construction project, with tarps, exposed rebar and scaffolds everywhere.
it is projected to be done in 30 years or so - and all I can say is that I will be back in 2039 or so. I don't know how to describe this place. It looks like a dribble castle or a cheesecake or a pile of bubble gum or something. Inside it looks like a medieval cathedral, but totally different. Maybe it looks like a rainforest, but executed in marble, with stained glass.
It was pretty cool.
The we went to the Maritime Museum which featured a full-sized Spanish galley. It gave a whole new meaning to the term Galley slave. That sounded like a pretty awful existence, rowing these huge ships all day, and without labour laws and all. I can just hear 14 century parents saying stay in school kids - stay in school or you will end up a galley slave.
Then we rambled down the Rambla, which is supposed to be one of the great shopping streets in the world. How many t-shirt shops does the world really need? If you've seen on so-called Great Shopping Street you've seen them all. I'd say skip it and sit on a patio somewhere.
Now I have to go. Supper is ready, as it is 10 at night. We've taken to dining as the Europeans do, late at night.
