It is our last day, and what better way to end this trip than to the highlight of Barcelona - the Sagrada Familia. The final of Alasdair’s wishes.
It is - yeah. It’s stunning. As a big believer in the sanctity of a holiday requiring the going to tall religious buildings, I’ve seen my fair share of stained glass windows and my god, this genuinely towers above the rest. It is gorgeous. We are there in the afternoon as the sun is hitting perfectly on the appropriately coloured windows across the different facing walls. Gaudi’s a genius.
The detail of the place on the whole is remarkable, second only to the ambition of the idealised finished product. It does feel almost forest-like, the architecture. The number of subtle details, a magic square adding up to 33, symbols carved in tucked away corners.
Another tour guide, Jose, who is very well versed in the job, and is pretty much the platonic ideal. He banters with us about how some cousins of his from the south have moved to Bristol, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he had cousins in every city in the UK for all of us.
We sit for a while, after the tour has finished, on the pews, and just soak it all in. A wonderful way to end.