Our last full day in beautiful Barcelona! We plan to visit Sagrada Familia, the magnificent Gaudi cathedral we stayed across from during our first few days. When we arrive there the line is crazy long and we realize we will not be able to visit anything else if we wait in line all day. So we decide to just skip it this time, just add this to the list of reasons to go back to Barcelona!
We have lot’s of metro trips left on our metro passes, so we decide to go to the National art museum of Catalonia where they offer free entry after 3pm on Saturdays (we always know the free museum days no matter where we are haha). The museum is at the end of a long beautiful stairway so we stroll the promenade and stop at the “magic fountain”. We see these giants walking down the stairs towards us! (image above) It is a really whimsical sight, we snap some photos, it actually seems like a family just out for a walk, no big parade procession, although it is worthy of such!
Reeling from such a cool sight we walk up a very grand staircase just to the right of the main stairway up to the museum. These stairs are lined with tiled fountains, it’s windy and so the mist of the fountains surrounds us and makes the place seem ethereal. We reach the museum entrance where there is a grand piano being played right outside the door.
Entering the museum we first go the area with ancient art and we are totally blown away by the frescos they have somehow removed from their original places and re-plastered on the walls and enclaved in the museum…. The stories are vivid and at times brutal but always beautiful. There is so much color used and the faces and bodies of the characters are incredibly expressive. There are these great coves built to display the frescos… there are many of them, all sizes.
There is a modern section we visit next, we discover artists we have never seen the work of before, and there is some very unique Gaudi designed furniture as well. Sculpture, furniture, photography, stained glass, and paintings round out the incredible collection.
The museum itself is an architectural wonder.
At the end of our visit we find a photography exhibit about the Spanish civil war…
After the museum we decide to wander the Barri Gothic quarter some more and find the remains of its former city walls.
Here are a few shots I took the morning we left, it was sad to leave the apartment that was our comfortable home for a few days! I look forward to going back some day soon!
sierrajohnrambleon 