Deadly serious

Here's some pics from the bonkers Sagrada Familia and the crazy space age hotel. 

I had been expecting a coach to take us to Andorra, the last destination on our trip, but it was actually a shuttle or minibus. Since Barcelona (and Toulouse in France) are the nearest airports to the country they operate a shuttle service. It's not cheap but makes this journey practical. After two exhausting days in Barcelona I think we both hoped to catch some sleep. Unfortunately with such a small bus and winding roads up the Pyrenees, we get little rest. If anything we get travel sickness. We arrive about 11.30pm with a party atmosphere in the capital Andorra de Villa. We didn't expect that but we rush to bed. We need sleep. 

The Metro line to the airport is new and even my new travel guide didn't have it listed. It was a simple change and then nine stops. But as I've said, connections on the Barcelona Metro,  or entering and exiting, are long. The airport line took us down six escalators! It felt like it would never end. We were travelling to the centre of the earth. At the airport we weren't getting a flight, but catching a bus. We waited inside first in the terminal's flight arrivals, trying to avoid the sun. For the whole trip the early afternoon has been comfortably hot. It's about 6pm when the heat becomes oppressive. We were relieved when the bus finally arrived. 

We return to the hotel, after a long sort ride on the Metro because in Barcelona there's no such thing as a quick trip underground. It's a slow form of transport with long exit tunnels. At the hotel we rest a while and I get advice for our onward journey to the airport. We're advised to return to the metro. We say goodbye to our space station. 

Our final stop in the centre of Barcelona was this cafe in the University district. It was the cheapest place we'd seen in the city in I two rushed half days but the most satisfying. Who wouldn't want a hot dog covered in cheese and three doughnuts for a euro. I added an espresso in desperate need for caffeine. It's difficult to believe we even survived these two days of dealing with the Barcelona crowds. We've been to so many countries now you'd think we'd be used to all this, but on the contrary we cherish those cities that have still retained some balance - even Madrid had that. Zaragoza had a while to go before being swamped by these sorts of crowds. 

We struggle again finding the best connection in the Metro to return to the centre of Barcelona after leaving the cathedral and end up in the University district. Today was supposed to be all Gaudi and there plenty more buildings to see but we've had enough for the day. I couldn't do any more Catalan Modernism. In any case we had to be back at the hotel by 5pm to pick up our bags. So before leaving we walked the University district and found the part of Barcelona we liked the most, filled with little cafes and unpretentious and friendly shops. I'm not sure I'd rush to return to Barcelona but if I did I'd try to stay here. 

We spend a lot of time gazing up at the cathedral and then wandering around taking photos all the while. It's mesmerising. We finally decide we've had enough and head outside for a few more shots. The rear of the church gives us the most Disney appearance of the building. The bone-like supporting structures look almost polystyrene in their sleekness and lightness. 

For those who can load up 3D here is the ceiling of the Sagrada Familia. 

When you look at the details though, the striking Gothic vertical lines give way to the Art Nouveau, especially with the floral designs and some geometric patterns. In some ways it's a complete mess and that can be a slight turn off. But I'm sure for many it's also genius. As I've said nobody can deny it's boldness. I suppose when we see the traditional Gothic church today it's so familiar that we forget how it must have seemed to the medieval peasant on a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage. They wouldn't have seen something ancient or familiar. They would have seen something modern and almost alien. Well the Sagrada Familia definitely achieves that. But also perhaps one element becomes more more obvious in its novelty, it says look at me and not look at God. There is as much arrogance here as there is piety and again perhaps that is also closer to the original Gothic. 

It's surely impossible to capture this cathedral with a single photo. The outside was a little marred by the scaffolding as they still have towers to complete but inside has much less disruption. In fact it's a little mind boggling. Your eyes get lost in the architecture. You could just sit here all day admiring the complexity. They say Gaudi designed with 3D models and not drawings. He sculpted this design. Although who knows how much interpretation there has been in the near century since his death. Really it's something that wouldn't be out of place on the set of Alien or Lord of the Rings. 

And this is the main facade. It's insane. Designed by the architect Gaudi and started in the 1880s it still has another 20 years before completion, if it goes according to plan. Gaudi was an architect of Catalan Modernism, but more specifically the cathedral is neo-Gothic with inspiration from Islamic geometric forms, eastern designs, the human body and trees, or indeed anything organic. It looks a bit like someone had dug up millions of bones from a plague cemetery and welded them all together. It's stunning in its own unique way. It's certainly not to everyone's liking (and not even sure I do) but there's no doubting its extraordinary and unparalleled design. I certainly love its boldness. 

But then while looking round for some ice cream I noticed a booth selling tickets to various tourist attractions. Not expecting much I asked about the cathedral in the hope something was available by other means. The guy inside said they had something available in 30 minutes. At first I thought he was joking but he reassured us we could have tickets to enter. I was stunned. We'd already convinced ourselves we weren't going in and that turned around in a flash. And there was only a charge of €2 extra per ticket. The day was saved. For me, Barcelona was saved. 

Our first destination on Friday was a quite unique Cathedral and the top most visited sight in Spain: Sagrada Familia. When we arrived the place was swarming with tourists. But we couldn't really find a queue. And then on asking we discovered you had to book online and unfortunately the day was fully booked. This was going to be the main event of the day and we couldn't get in. I was a little devastated. We sat down, took some photos and tried to convince ourselves we didn't mind. 

The local metro was like everything else here: hot, busy, dirty and sometimes smelly. But the only rare presence if air conditioning when outdoors it's almost always over 30 degrees seems crazy. The trains themselves are generally air conditioned, but the platforms are rarely. It's not pleasant travel.

We had only one night in Barcelona so this was our first and only morning in the 2001 Space Odyssey fantasy. All signage followed the theme. Our breakfast room was the magnus opus. I've never seen a breakfast buffet so big. Admittedly they did space it out a bit, literally and figuratively. I had my usual fare of eating for the apocalypse. There were some things we'd never seen before, but we didn't get too adventurous. We left that to the decor.

After initially taking the wrong Metro direction, which wasn't smart of me given the lack of air conditioning, we finally got back to the hotel as zombies, or discharged androids looking for a plug socket in our space age habitation cubes. 

We wondered some more through the streets a little aimlessly as it's just so busy and we were so tired. Barcelona has a huge range of architectural styles but so much seems to clash and together with the throng of tourists it doesn't make for a particularly pleasant experience. We miss the peace of smaller and less touristy cities. So we stopped at a bat desperate for something cool. The barman saw me coming and filled a gallon bowl with sangria for Katarina, charging likewise. But he was interesting. Originally from somewhere Asian he spoke English well given it was a bar that served the British football crowd. I asked him about the British football fans and he had little nice to say except they liked to spend money. 

Wondering some more through the busy gothic district of Barcelona we eventually decided to find something more substantial to eat and settled in a Chinese restaurant with a set menu. It wasn't bad at all and certainly above the usual takeaway food. The vegetables were crispy and fresh and the flavour subtle, without relying on sugar and grease. In the tourist zone it's never easy finding something at a decent price and quality. We were satisfied and Katarina had scratched an itch she'd had for sweet and sour chicken. 

But there was one quite unique feature of Barcelona Cathedral and that was the inner courtyard with gardens and trees. Can't recall seeing this before. Within the garden were a load of hungry geese being fed by tourists who surrounded the area which was separated by iron railings. The geese were ferocious with one pulling three feather from the back of another that squeeled in pain, fighting over bread that one person was throwing inside. It wasn't a pleasant sight, although the garden was pretty. It certainly fit in with the Barcelona chaos. 

We eventually find our way through the gothic quarter of Barcelona, which runs down one side of that busy pedestrianised road, La Rambla, to the cathedral. Like the other church it's paid entry but we actually arrive during the free period around 5-7pm so accept the queue, which isn't excessive, and make a our way inside. Whereas the del Pi church had a tiny number of tourists this place is swarming inside. The cathedral is beautiful although the distance between the columns is indeed less than the smaller (although still huge) del Pi church. But this is testimony to the achievement of those masons to reach such huge scales so quickly in the 14th century. Having seen so many religious buildings it's sadly difficult to pick out unique features when you have only a little time to tour. A guided tour would help but often we don't have time or don't want the restriction.

The view from the top of the tower was worth the measly 200 steps. We even found the cathedral I'd been looking for! We had about 10-15 minutes to enjoy the view before our timed tour was over and we had to scale those tiny stairs down. Going down on a tiny spiral staircase is more difficult than going up and we know that from home. But everyone does well. Somehow we don't even feel so hot after doing this in the heat of Barcelona. And Barcelona is hot. The temperature figure is lower than Madrid but it's humid and a busy dirty city. I didn't get a photo of La Rambla, the main thoroughfare through the centre of the city. It's huge wide and very very busy. Despite the width it is still having with tourists as far as the eye can see. It makes Barcelona much more tiring than Madrid. 

The tower was built a little later and built, literally, like a fortress and used as such. It has a central opening where weapons, supplies and ladders could be passed up during war years. There were even places to build fires to survive the cold and eat in case of siege. This was a church made to survive. And survive it has done for almost 700 years. The stairs rise up to three levels narrowing dramatically near the top and we, and a small handful of tourists, navigate the steps very carefully. All the while we get a guide describing the history of the tower. 

On our return we were treated to a guided tour and walk up the tower. Although this tour wasn't my intention it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. The church itself is 14th century. A remarkable age. Apart from a fire by anarchists in 1936, which destroyed the rose window, it was completely restored. The church was built in 70 years which we understand was a rare achievement for those days. And the single broad gothic vault is very impressive. The open space feels greater even than a larger cathedral. None of this was obvious from outside. The name, del Pi, comes from a forest that once stood on this area, a pine forest. 

This isn't Barcelona Cathedral. That's obviously now but when we arrived I followed my map and almost blindly walked in to buy entry tickets including the tower. The entry was timed so we had left to get those sandwiches. When we returned I realised immediately I'd screwed up. In seeking the cathedral I'd entered the wrong church and so we had tickets to somewhere else entirely. Well it was a church at least, just not the one I'd intended. 

Our first stop was some food. I'm rarely hungry until the evening as our breakfasts are huge feasts, but Katarina eats less in the morning. We stopped at a really sweet little cafe served by the sweetest woman with the sweetest of Spanish accents. It was almost a Hollywood comedy. It's our first experience of Catalonia, this region of Spain with a strong (independent) identity. I'm wondering if the accent here is very different. Almost more Spanish, to English ears. The waitress offers me a taste of meats and I order this weird minced ham. I do finish two halves but almost regret it. It was good but finishing this when I wasn't really hungry seemed a little too much. A bit of meat in a baguette is unfortunately not Katarina's first choice. It is of course one of my favourites. 

So this was our designated ice cube, or so it was called. The theme didn't stop at the door. It's everywhere. The blinds rise and drop with the push of a button. All the furniture follows the same theme. It's also the first time the sinks were in the main area of the room, the shower and toilet being separated by the sliding door. On most holidays we have a little downtime in travel days but here we have two half days in Barcelona. This being one we had only a short while before setting out again and it was already 3pm.

Yep, its a themed hotel and it's a space station, or some sort of spacecraft. But it's not childish or tacky. They've actually gone to great lengths and expense to buy authentic furniture and details to create a pretty convincing environment. The floors are even named after the style of habitation pods - ours are called ice cubes. We've got the basic accommodation. Little signs around tell us the outside environment, oxygen levels and temperature. It's like we've visited the dreamworld of Stanley Kubrik. It's surprisingly ok. I think I would have avoided this before had I known, as they would have expected something dreadful. To put it simply, this is adult fantasy, not child fantasy.