As I entered Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece, I had goosebumps and tears. It is one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. To step into this massive space filled with amazing light from the beautiful stained glass windows and the huge stone columns that direct your gaze upwards … there are no words just over whelming awe!

The attention to detail. The planning. The engineering. The execution. And to think that so much of the concept and original engineering was done between 1880 and 1926 when Gaudi died suddenly in a traffic accident at 73. No computers. No CAD. No 3-D design…. And with all the thought and planning Gaudi put into Sagrada Familia, he knew that it wouldn’t be completed in his lifetime and others that came after him would add their interpretations to the concept.

The Nativity Facade is Gaudi’s. So many intimate details, but the most fascinating to me is that he used actual molds of people’s face, animals, babies to create the realistic appearance of the sculptures in the tableaux. His reason, no one could do it better than God.

We also had tickets to go up in the Nativity Tower to get a sense of the height and detail of the four high towers. An elevator up but over 400 steps down a spiral staircase. Do this while you are “young!”

It has been much warmer here than we expected. Low 80’s but very humid! We did over 17,000 steps on this sightseeing adventure. We got back to the hotel HOT, tired, sweaty, … the most amazing day. We would do it again and stay longer!!!