We learned from one of our cab drivers that because of the festival that the Sagrada Familia was free this weekend. So decided to wait until Saturday and go. We arrived there early (9am), got in line to get our tickets, and learned they were not free. You had to enter a lottery online to win free tickets. But we waited, then we learned that we should have bought them earlier – the only time we could get in was 1:15pm. But we waited. Then we went through security, to just buy tickets, they let MyLisa through, and stopped mom and I from buying tickets for today, saying they were sold out. When we told them we were together, they let us through, but we were the last ones.

Since we now had time to kill, we tried buying Picasso tickets, but the timing wasn’t right, instead we bought Casa Milà tickets for 11am. We took a cab over and fortunately they let us enter earlier then our designated time. The attic arches and rooftop sculptures were amazing. We felt Gaudi’s inspiration from nature more acutely today – whether it was the bones of a whale for the attic or the honeycomb. The roof sculptures were purposefully designed for wind to flow through. The apartment was interesting, but somewhat disappointing because of the small rooms and long hallways. Afterwards I wasn’t feeling well, so we stopped at the Cafe de la Pedrera to get a drink and a croissant. I think it hit the spot.

We took another cab back to La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi was an amazing architect and the church is beautiful. The front and back of the cathedral is completely different. Construction started in 1882 and is anticipated to be completed by 2026. The back is much more modern then the front, as Gaudi’s architectural style combined gothic and art nouveau forms. He devoted his life to this project and at the time of his death in 1926 when he was 73 years old, it was only a quarter of the way complete. Gaudi’s original design called for 18 spires, representing in ascending order of height the 12 apostles, the Virgin Mary, the 4 evangelists and the tallest Jesus. But only 8 have been built. There is a nativity facade on the front and a passion facade on the back, so very different. The nativity is ornate and he passion simple, plain, carved with sharp lines.

The interior is much different than the exterior. You do not see small chapels, but instead one main room, the columns are representative of trees in a forrest, the stained glass was not added until 1999 and is modern, beautiful and lights up the space in the most beautiful way.

At 6pm we headed back down town to Via Laietana to see La Mercè Correfoc, the young Devils fire run. We decided to go to the child run knowing we didn’t have the right clothes for the adult version starting a few hours later. It required long sleeves and a hoodie to protect yourself from the sparks everywhere. There were a few giants, percussion drum groups and many young children dressed up like devils. We stood at first near Hell’s Gate on the lookout for hellish beasts who came to take over the city. We ended up,having to move to get a better view. They light their scepters and forks and spray sparks of fire on people in the streets. Yes we backed away when the fire came close to us, as did everyone else around us. We grabbed dinner on the walk back out to catch a cab, and ended up catching the start of the adult show, it lit up the streets.