Up early again to visit Montserrat. Unfortunately for the rest of the people on the bus it was like a typical Toowoomba winter’s day at 0 degrees and fog thick as. Montserrat is 3000 feet above sea level and the road is very windy. We slept most of the way up because we are exhausted. When we got up there you could not see anything as the fog had closed in. We had a coffee and I bought a bottled of the Monk’s special brew.
Louise had a bright idea with 25 minutes to go and touch the Black Madonna. We got in line and it moved very slowly and at some point we knew were not going to make the bus. We pushed back through the line only to find the gate locked behind us so people wouldn’t be looking at the Madonna while the 11.00 service was on. We then moved forward only to find the only way out was over a balustrade in front of the whole congregation. Lou was prepare for the high jump and I was worried dickie knee. Fortunately a monk came along with a key and let us out to make a hasty retreat through the congregation.
On the way back to Barcelona the bus was making a funny beeping noise and as I wasn’t the driver I wasn’t worried until the bus stopped in the middle of peak hour in Barcelona. Our tour guide taught the bus driver how to Face Time with the Volvo mechanic and after about half an hour we walked to the motel. An hour later the bus turned up for our afternoon tour. We got about 400m before the bus refused to move again. A few quick calls and a new bus pulled up behind us and we were off for the afternoon trip to around Barcelona and to go to Sagrada Familia Bascilica. It was now raining and cold.
This church, still in construction, was started 160 years ago. The first architect was fired so they set out to find a new architect. The requirements were that they were catholic, religious and wouldn’t charge. Well Gaudi fitted requirements and he took on the job of designing the church. He lived in a brick building beside the church and all the money that he earnt from his private commissions he gave to the Catholic Church. The columns of the church were based on nature ie. trees and he preformed all the calculations to ensure the columns and the tree like structures were sufficient to hold the roof. 85% of the money to build the church is from admission charges and the other 15% is from people who want to pay their way into heaven by paying for forgiveness for their sins.
The colours of the stain glass windows go from the cool colours of dawn to the golden colours of the evenings as they move from east to west. There is not stain glass windows of the saints because this church is about the family of Christ; Mary and Joseph. Interesting Gaudi included white stained glass for the first time in a window. The door, struck in bronze, has the Lords Payer in Catalan and in 59 other languages. The door handles are A and G. The church is designed to hold 6500 people. In the civil war of Spain the plans of Gaudi were destroyed and luckily there were photographs of his plans that other architects were able to redraw his ideas.
The figure of Christ on the cross was the first to show him in agony and in the throws of death. This sculpture was also under an umbrella made by Gaudi.
There are 52 columns to represent the 52 weeks of the year and around the alter there are 12 columns to represent the 12 apostles. The entrance doors are made by a Japanese architect and they have many of the insects of the worlds on a leaf pattern. The fonts at the entrance are made from shells donated by the people of the Philippines.
One side is the nativity side and is more joyous whereas on the passion side the sculptures are more cubist and severe.
Gaudi lived like a hermit and when a tram ran him over the driver got out and put him to one side as he thought he was a homeless person. He was taken to hospital and died a few days later and he is buried in a crypt at the Sagrada Familia.
We got taxis back to the hotel as the bus we found out got a batch diesel with some water in it.
We went to the beach front to have dinner. The Tapas was good and then we tried the suckling pig. We think it was more like a teenager or older. The dessert was lovely. Creme caramel and a traditional almond slice.
Ken & Louise Dudley 
The columns that change shape as they rise up to the roof are amazing aren’t they?
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On Mon, 1 May 2017 at 10:26 pm, Ken & Louise Dudley wrote:
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > It was amazing even though the weather was shocking trying to look st the > outside. > > > > > >
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