Inside the school of Sagrada Familia
Picasso Museum
We arrived at the hall way inside Picasso Museum, on the wall hung a few paintings with vast amount of space surrounding it. One of the biggest collection of his work remains at this museum in Spain. How do we explain art? What we can see is cubism and surrealism, the beginning of modernisation of art. Salvador Dali’s paintings were on exhibition as well to give us a side to side comparison of both artists’s style and how they influenced each other.
Sagrada Familia
This basilica designed by Gaudi is on the top list of tourist attractions in Barcelona, upon first sight it strikes to be very impressive. Started construction in 1882, it is still not finished and the forecasted completion time is 2026, takes over 144 years to built. Cologne church in Germany took around 600 years to built, so I am not surprised. The stones were carved by hands before they had computer-controlled machine to cut stones as well there are about 10 more towers to be built on it. There are a lot of geometric forms and details such as organic curves that are to be noticed.
Spectacular intricate details can be seen, there are meanings behind all the little structures and carvings. There are some designs such as the leaves to replicate nature and gothic style still prevails.
It is vamped by a lot of tourists, I am one of the them. Not easy to capture all of the building in one photo, it is too majestic. There are many symbolism and liturgy words surrounding the building. Outside the building, the cranes are still working on construction.
Inside, you can observe more intricate details such as spiral stairways and the high vaults reaching the ceilings. The towers which you can go up was unfortunately shut on the day we went, due to hazards from the weather.
Those stained window glass are my favourite feature of this basilica, it lets in just the right amount of light. On the closer inspection, there are words engraved on the coloured glass. All in all, the building has allegory that represented the birth, death and resurrection of Christ.
Seafood Street
We happen to came across Passeig Joan Borbó, the renowned sea food street as well as the fisherman’s district, there are many restaurants offering fresh seafoods and other Spanish speciality dishes. Having a few glass of Sangria is a must, it consists mostly of wine and fruits. It is just a walk from Barceloneta beach and the market.
Seafood paella is considered as a national Spanish food, here we have a mixed seafood paella on a paellera. Aquatic meat is very popular here as fresh source are easy to obtain from.
Main dish consists of lobster, langoustine and other prawns on a bed of lettuce. Spanish cockles were succinctly fresh and definitely the sea can be tasted. It is set ablaze by a lemon soaked in alcohol for that extra presentation and ambience setting.
Our main transport mode was the Barcelona metro equivalent to underground tube in London.
