A Gaudy Display and a Remote Village

Yesterday we went out to see the Sagrada Familia, the weirdest church in the world that has been under construction for over a century. Gaudi, the architect, planned it that way, although he went to meet Jesus himself a little early when he stepped out in front of a streetcar in 1926.

Regardless, they have been working on his church ever since and it is the center point of Barcelona's pride in his architectural work. We walked around the thing once, checked out the bizarre carvings and design, and then moved on. The whole thing leaves a non-believer like myself cold since so much effort and money has been, and is being, spent on the proposition that Gaudi's invisible friend is better than mine.

We next went to the "Block of Discord" where there are several "Modernista" style homes facing the main street along with one Gaudi designed called the Casa Batillo. This place looks a lot like a Disneyland ride, complete with a garish facade and strange, twisted rooms with bizarre woodwork and stained glass. Once you get inside the staff hands you an audio self tour device

that is, in my opinion, somewhat boring and syrupy. However, it is an interesting tour and takes you all the way to the roof where you get a pretty good look around the town. We hiked back to the apartment after that and stayed inside, even though it was the final night of the local fiesta in Barceloneta and there were tremendous fireworks in the plaza just a block or two away.

This morning we took the train to Figueres where we had an excellent Indian meal at a little restaurant on the square near the bus station and then took a bus to the little village of Cadaques where I am writing these lines from our hotel room balcony. The bus went over a range of mountains after climbing out of the flat lands around Figueres, and the hairpin turns the bus had to take were almost frightening. This is a pretty little village that seems like it is on the edge of the world, and the hotel is as neat as a pin. We have yet to walk down to the harbor front, and that will be the subject of my next report.