Day 5: Barcelona

Yay Barcelona! We split up with our friends for a few days. Barcelona was on our list because of the beautiful Sagrada Família. Also, it's a place Shaun always heard of while serving but he never made it there. Our hotel room had these beautiful murals on the walls that I absolutely loved (I had some people ask about the hotels over there so I included footage in the video). The best part of the room was our view outside to the Sagrada Família. Unfortunately it was the construction side but we were still so impressed. 

Excuse my gigantic pants I got in Granada. They are now my most comfortable item I own #worthit 

Hands in the pockets again.

A Catholic church that is in use today. 

The Sagrada Família is a large Roman Catholic church that was designed by the famous architect, Gaudí. After 133 years of construction it is finally almost done! And by almost, I mean in about ten years. It's estimated completion date is in 2026. The picture of the final product looks incredible. We are hoping to go back and visit when it's totally complete. SO much detail on the outside of this cathedral.

The entrance to the cathedral depicts the birth of Jesus. It might be hard to see but he is in the center with Mary and Joseph and on each level you have the wisemen, shepherds, angels etc.

 The tourists embarrassed me! We tried to be less obnoxious as some. It was hard when carrying a selfie stick though :) 

I had an obsession with their staircases!

Then you came out the back and it is scenes from the crucifixion.

How cute is this little boy?? I barely understood what I was listening to/looking at so when I turned and saw this little guy it made me smile. So cute. 

 Shaun was getting money at this ATM right outside the Sagrada Família and I just remember having this huge feeling of joy and gratefulness. I could not believe where I was. I learned about this building and its architect in a humanities class once and here I was visiting it with SJ. It was surreal and I had to capture that moment somehow. So that feeling was linked to ATM's the rest of the trip (which we visited a lot....)

Park Güell 

This is now a public park. The artist Güell was originally constructing it to be a housing site and pictured it as a huge town where people would live in these crazy looking houses and gardens. Only two houses ended up being built though. They were put up for sale and Gaudí (the architect building The Sagarada Família) bought it in 1906 and lived there with his family for 20 years. The house contains some of his work as decoration. It is now a museum and a beautiful park. The two houses built are behind us. Don't they look they belong in a Dr Seuss book?!

This was supposed to be the town hall

Another view of the houses. More like gingerbread houses..

We came back to the hotel after walking around the park. We were starving so we ordered room service and brought it up to the roof. The city was quiet. As we were eating, a firework show in the distance began. It was a great way to end the night in Barcelona! Side note: the song Barcelona by Queen was sung many times throughout the day...

Day 4: Granada

Granada was just an hour away from Antequera so once we finished there for the day, we spent the night in Granada. We woke up the next morning and headed to church. Shaun was so happy to see all the changes that has happened since he had been in that city. They used to have church on the first floor of a small apartment and now they have this beautiful building to meet in. When we walked in, primary was going on and the door to their room was open. I recognized the tune they were singing as "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ" I almost lost it! It was the sweetest thing. It was fast and testimony meeting so Shaun got up and bore his testimony. He said (I found out later since it was in Spanish) how he served in Granada ten years ago but at that time his Spanish was awful so he rarely talked to anyone. Right after, a brand new missionary got up and very slowly began.. in a harsh english accent:

Hola. Yo... soy... nuevo.. misionero.. 

(Hi. I am a missionary..)

The contrast of the two had everybody kind of laughing. He was illustrating what Shaun had just explained to the congregation. I am sure he had no idea what Shaun had just said either. Good sport. 

Granada Cathedral, 1560

I don't know why my hand always ends up on the side of Sj's head 

Any Avengers fans? You know that dish called shawarma they get at the end?
It was DELICIOUS. 

The rest of the day was exploring the grounds of this beautiful palace & fortress called The Alhambra. It was a palace in the 1300's. It is one of the examples of Muslim art in its final European stages (you can tell by the different style of archways). There are arabic inscriptions throughout the walls. Beautiful landmark.

I remember just thinking this shot was so hilarious. You are so tired that you find any open space to sit down. So you just kind of invade people's space in order to get the photo-op. 

Arch ways in this place reminded me of Aladdin 

This bench entertained us longer than it should have

After exploring the grounds we made our way with the rest of the crowd to the lookout spot to watch the Alhambra light up at sunset. 

{getting pretty desperate for soundtracks as you can tell. I'll put more effort in for day 5}