Keown Family-Life in Belgium: SPAIN-DAY 4

Today was our second private tour, not as good as the first but different. I used a different company for this one. It was to include Montserrat and sites in Barcelona. We first drove to Monserrat (serrated mountain), it was about an hour or more away from Barcelona, up the mountain through very windy roads. I was surprised that Mike and Preslee were both ok after that drive. And at the top of this mountain was the monastery and basilica that we were going to visit. It's pretty amazing to see it from the bottom of the mountain and then to actually be there.

A pic from the bottom of the mountain...you can barely see the monastery at the top

Inside the Basilica

So, we saw this train thing (funicular) going up the side of the mountain and decided it might be fun to ride. It is very steep, but goes very slow.

Preslee was mad that I put this picture on here, she said she wasn't scared she just wanted Dad to stop taking pictures of her.

The views were amazing...we were very high up!

Mike, Preslee, and Kade walked further up the mountain on a narrow dirt walkway that looked scary to me. I stayed back with the stroller and Drake (we never know what he will do).

Going back down...

The big draw to this monastery, other than it's on top of a mountain, is the Black Madonna (Virgin of Montserrat). It was supposedly found in a cave and today is recognized by the Catalans as their most spiritual possession. They believe it was carved in Jerusalem and that the monastery was built around the statue because the monks could not move it. So we stood in line along with 100s of others to touch her hand, which is the only part of her that is not behind glass, and receive her blessing.

After staying on the mountain for a few hours, our guide drove us to sites in Barcelona. We stopped a few times but mainly just drove passed them.

View of Barcelona

Park Guell-a UNESCO world heritage site designed by Gaudi. It was first going to be a sort of neighborhood for the rich, but that didn't work out for Guell. Now it is a municipal garden.

entrance

Gaudi's inspiration was always natural shapes-these are called helicoidal columns

These two buildings are at the entrance of the park. Supposed to represent an elephant's body and head and trunk.

Serpentine Bench

Gaudi lived here for a short time, now it's a museum of some of his works.

The famous mosaic dragon

SAGRADA FAMILIA

Barcelona's Roman Catholic Church designed by Gaudi. It was started in 1882, he took over in 1883 and by the time of his death in 1926, it was only a quarter of the way complete. It is still not complete but there are hopes that it will be finished in 2026, 100 years after his death. As you can tell through our pictures, over the years architects have changed the design and structure of Gaudi's original plan. The Nativity facade (Gaudi's work) on one side of the building is totally different than the Passion facade on the other side. There are to be 18 spires completed (only one was finished at the time of Gaudi's death) representing the 12 apostles, Mary, Jesus, and the four Evangelists. We have seen a lot of beautiful churches (a lot!) but this one was definitely the most unique.