Sitges

Sitges is a beach town about 30 minutes by train from Barcelona. I get the feeling this place is very different at night.

Just when you think you're ready to come home, you find a place like this and say to yourself, " nah, I can do this a bit more"

Anyone wanna buy a hoodie?

Montserrat....Talk about underwhelming.

Free to enter. 70+ euro to get to. 3 hours of travel on various metro lines. No Choir on Saturdays.

It was cool up there so we both bought hoodies

The natural views are ok

A 40 minute hike out to the St.Joan area

The Basilica sqr

The famous black Madona

Maybe it's tourist overload. To Montserrat is another place that started off amazing but got turned into an epic tourist trap.  I hope it rains tomorrow. If you're Bacelona, the Sagrada Familia is a major yes. Montserrat is not that impressive.We had an awesome day but only after we got back into town.

The Sagrada Familia

Antoni Goudi is perhaps Spain's most celebrated architect. Born in 1852, he worked on the Sagrada for 43 years before his death in 1926 when he was hit by a tram. He completed many architectural feats before his death. In accordance with his own wish, he was entombed in the crypts of the Sangrada. More than 1000 Catalan people escorted his casket to the church. 

The church was never completed while he lived. In fact it never even came close and in 1936 was damaged during the Spanish Civil War. 

Work has continued on the Sagrada with contributions from dozens of known artists and architects all working towards realizing Goudi's vision. He completed several plaster models and artistic renderings of the Sagrada before his death. Even before his live was cut he knew he wouldn't be around to complete the work so he left lots of material for his followers to go by. The hope of project leaders is that they can complete all the towers and facades by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Goudi's death.

In the past 3 weeks, I've been bombarded with culture in particular religious art and history having seen a couple of Cathedrals (Siena and Florence), art(Vatican Museum and Uffici gallery) and St. Peters Basilica(which many consider the greatest church in the Christian world and I might agree).

There are no photo's here that do this place justice. I'd have needed a drone to get the proper angles. Bear with me if you will. I'm not here to repeat what I heard on on the audio tour. You may just have to make this trip yourself one day. 

First look from the street.

 During my time here today I never really though much about the east facing  Nativity facade. Move up closer and you can see many statues and sculptures that tell the story of the birth of Christ. 

A poor shot of what the church hopes to be one day

 A closer look shows the ornate nature and detail of Goudi's vision. Each of these statues tells part of the story.

Staring up at the towers. 8 are complete. 10 more to go

The 3 wise men bearing gifts

 Once inside we can see the church with stain windows all around, and in the clerestories above where a chorus would sit.

The vaulted ceilings go 75 meters high supported by stone columns that branch out like trees as they reach the top. (I was reminded of Lothlorien from the 1st lord of the rings movie but the 2 have nothing to do with each other. )

 The west facing stained glass use the warmer colours to represent summer.

 To the east he uses the cooler colours.

 The 4 main support columns made of the red-ish basalt have glyphs on them to represent some of Christianities bigger names like Luc and Mark (There are 4 all together)

 A stair case that leads up to the higher level.

Across from where I was sitting.

The West facing door.

 The exit side of the tour is called the Passion Facade. The Door leading there is crafted in bronze and has passages from the bible carved into it. Moving to the outside, the Passion facade tells the story of the Crucifixion. There the caricatures of Pontios and Judas the Roman soldiers that played dice for Christs belongings after he was dead. On this side, the statues lose their warmth, becoming square or more abstract.

Yes this is the second time I'm showing this picture. I just wanted to talk about it. Michelangelo and Leonardo used images of mountains in the background of many of their paintings to represent God. (Water was used to represent people) I look at this facade and am reminded of a range of mountains. The entrance looks like caves where people have carved ornate representations of religious icons. Inside the pillars stand like trees around you. Everywhere you look there is light as though it were light poking through a forest. While there are statues on the inside of the church, there perhaps 20 times as many carvings and statues on the outside.. I make this point as St. Peters and all the Renaissance era cathedrals have their insides lined with religious art so that the parishioners could ponder Gods sacrifice.  I also found the representations on the outside to be more factual of the story without personal spins on Christianity.

So in a way, Goudi's vision was to tell the story of Christ on the outside of the building, allowing the inside to be left as a tribute to nature which might allow a parishioner to focus on God's creations instead. The Sagrada might be a representation of the message from God, without any biases or misinterpretations from mere men. (Goudi was a true lover of nature).


I've never studied religion, nor been all that religious. But for someone who finds clarity and peace in the mountains, I can say that the Sangrada connected with me

Firenze

We bused from Siena to Florence in the morning for day drip. We did a walk out of the Rick Steves book and a guided tour of the Uffici Gallery where some of the most famous art in the world is kept. Highlights from the day are the Duomo(Cathedral), Piazza Dei Uffici, Ponte Vecchio (The old bridge) and the some of the art from the gallery itself. 

I liked Siena better as the vibe was more relaxed. Florence was flat, busy and without much greenery in the touristy areas.

We ended the day with a flight to Barcelona. As I write this, our legs are wrecked from a day of walking around and our tour in the Sangrada Familia.

The Siena Vibe

The Baltour bus from Perugia dumped us off at the train station instead of Piazza Gramsci. Oh well. I'm (almost) done sweating the details. We took a cab to our hotel, the first cab we've taken since we started our trip. Antica Residenza Cicogna is a great little B&B very close to the heart of the action in Siena. Nic told them we were on our belated honeymoon and they left us a small bottle of prosecco  in our room. When Nic spoke to them in Italian they upgraded us to the largest room we've had so far on our trip. The breakfast here is good and plentiful. I can strongly recommend this place. My only comment is there are no mini-fridges in the rooms, instead we can share a small one down stairs.

Lunch in Siena

Piazza dei Campo

I share this attitude

The famous tower at Campo.

The Piazza Campo is treated like a beach. Anyone can just lie down here and chill with a bevy if they chose.

I wasn't too interested in putting a lot of effort into our Siena visit. We opened our Rick Steves book and followed his Siena walk around some of the landmarks.

We came to the Duomo and decided it was the right time to go in. Some pics from inside.

The next day we woke and started wandering around in many of the same places we'd been.

Siena takes 1 day. More time here is fine if you like Gelato or wine or just relaxing. Nic and I got a lot of all that done here.

The Olive Orchard.

We'd found our favorite bar near Il Campo. Had a few wines and picked our favorite. This the best white wine we'd found so far in Italy. Check out the name.

The Piazza at night.

Siena has been great but do not bother with the Tuscan Wine School. It's a very bad value. 90 Euro's for 2 of us, a boring tour, a lame cheese platter, slice of pizza and some gelato. And they made me drink Olive Oil. Yuk.

Other than that, Italy continues to be amazing. This is our last night here though. Tomorrow is Florence in the day and a flight to Barcelona in the evening. Check back on Friday.

Cheers.