The sunswept city of Barcelona fades into the distance as I write this post, and with it, the winner of the “Best Church on the Trip” contest.

Barcelona is a city of 5 million people, and after putting in nearly 30,000 steps exploring today we feel we have a pretty good flavor of it.  The walk-a-thon commenced by traversing the entire length of the Romblas – a century old former creek that is now a wide, 3/4 mile long pedestrian corridor lined with beautiful buildings, restaurants, shops, hotels and markets.  Nearly the whole length is shaded and cooled by mature plane trees and if not for the crushing throng of tourists sauntering along like a herd of drunken snails, it would be a most delightful place to hang.

Fortunately, we started our adventures quite early this morning and got to enjoy it unmolested.

I’ll spare you the afternoon picture, since it was little more than hairy, sweaty, fat-saddled tourists ambling aimlessly – and that was just us.

The highlight of the day (and perhaps the trip), however, was the incomparable Sagrada Familia, to which my pictures and words won’t come close to doing justice.  It is something that must be seen in person.  Period.

2,000 years ago, the Romans needed about eight years to build the Colosseum.  100 years ago, NYC erected the Empire State Building in less than 14 months.   But the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) was started in 1882, and as you can see, it’s still under construction.

The basilica is largely the masterwork of famed architect, and local god, Antoni Gaudi, who spent the final 47 years of his life designing and building this work of art.  He was hit by a streetcar and died at age 74, and like all of us, never saw his vision fully realized.  The goal is to complete the project by the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death in 2026.

Before his death, however, he did get to see the temporary entrance completed.

Here’s a close up of that entrance:

Two important facts about this view.  First, as you’ll soon see, Gaudi wanted to keep the inside of the cathedral largely free of statues, so he put them on the outside instead.  And there are many!

Second, knowing he would die long before the building was completed, he used this entrance as a template for how to build the rest of the church.  This was in case the plans for the building were destroyed.  As an example,  right above the holy family is a tall carved spire with a star at the top. 

This was his template for one of the unbuilt towers.  And, just recently, that tower with the star atop was completed – just as Gaudi designed it.

We bought tickets to go up in the building, which afforded great, up-close views of some of the many amazing exterior mosaics.

And statues:

Plus some amazing views of the city.

And as further example of the exterior statues, here is another of the entrances.

But if you think the outside is cool, wait until you walk in:

Gaudi designed the interior to be like a forest, and a magical one at that. Too bad the pictures don’t fully capture the magnificence!

You get the point: find a way to visit in person. And while in Barcelona, check out a few other Gaudi works, including many houses, and an entire city park, Parc Gruel, he whimsically designed …

and snaked with trails affording delicious views of the city, including the Sagrada Familia – illustrating clearly its immense size, dwarfing the neighborhoods around it.

We have seen 4 magnificent churches on this trip: St. Marks in Venice, St. Peters in Rome, the Duomo in Florence and the Sagrada Familia. They are all magnificent in their own ways, but there can only be one winner, and that champion is in Barcelona!

Whenever they finish building, I will be back. You’re all welcome to join me … I’ll even spring for the sangria!