Barcelona, Spain

Our first cruise ended today in Barcelona. We could have stayed onboard, but wanted to a least see a bit of Barcelona. There are over 300 people staying on for the second cruise. The ship offered a free shuttle into town. We had prepurchased tickets for a hop on, hop off bus. 

There are at least seven cruise ships in the humongous port today. Once we were on the top deck of a bus, we decided to just do the 2.5 hour trip and not get off. There were long lines at each stop. 

We saw many areas of the huge city.  The city itself is 38 sq. miles with 1.6 million people.  However, the metropolitan area covers 1,249 sq. miles and 5.7 million people. We can attest to it being very crowded, and a traffic nightmare. 

It's hard to get decent pictures because there are many trees and parks. That's great for the residents, but not for photos.

Barcelona hosted the Olympics in 1992. We saw quite a few remaining venues. This is the main stadium and the fire cauldron. It was lit with a flaming arrow being shot at it!

This Communications tower was next to the stadium. It was designed by Calatrava to televise the 1992 Olympics. Our Wisconsin friends will recognize the Calatrava name as he designed the Milwaukee Art Museum. Too bad all communication towers aren't this beautiful!

Picture from the web 

We passed many amazing architectural buildings. I don't know what all of them are, but they were beautiful!

Original Customs building 1896

New architecture, Barcelona's largest bank needs two huge black towers

The red coliseum behind the statue in this plaza was a bull fighting ring. Bull fighting has been banned since the 1970s in Barcelona. 

The other side of the plaza had these two towers where they used to have public hangings. Yikes!

The highlight of the day was most definitely Sagrada Familia, the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world.  Designed by Antonio Gaudi, it was begun in 1882. As you can see by the cranes, they are still working on it. When it is finished, it will be the tallest church in the world. Words can't describe it. I've never seen anything like it!!

Picture from the web 

There are many statues sculpted into the construction on each side, depicting Christ's life. The detail is astounding!

Angel at top

Glass star atop a spire

Gaudi was a famous architect and designer, 1852-1926. He was hit by a tram and died, seeing only a small portion of the construction. He is buried inside.

It is now a Unesco World Heritage site, and was consecrated and declared a minor Basilica by the Pope in 2010. It has been built solely on donations. 

I would have loved to have had time to get off and walk around all sides, and visit the inside. I hear it's equally impressive. But, we didn't want to miss the ship!

One of the city squares has two gas street lamps designed by Gaudi in 1879. This stuff was built to last!

There is a 197 foot tall statue of Christopher Columbus built in 1888. His finger is pointing out to sea, but in the direction of Africa instead of the Americas. 😃 

We passed the stadium for Futbol Club Barcelona.  The stadium was undergoing a massive renovation. The soccer club was founded in 1899. It is the third most valuable in the world at $5.6 billion. It is one of the most widely supported and decorated clubs in the world. 

We spent quite a bit of time in a traffic jam caused by this protest. I wish I could read the sign on the mannequin on the front of the truck. 

There were many interesting and pretty trees and flowers. I've never seen this kind of tree.

On the way we saw these five cruise ships lined up. Ours is the second one with the water slide. There were at least two more at different piers. I've never seen such a busy port!

A view of the city from our top deck. 

There are a lot of cargo ships out there. I'm assuming they're waiting their turn to enter. 

Another interesting day in Spain!