I overslept!! I had meant to get out early with the camera to capture the little passageways before the crowds arrived but had not gone to bed as early as usual and I didn’t wake until after 8.00a.m. so by the time I got out it was a bit busier than planned but still fairly quiet – nothing really happens before about 10.00a.m. except where there’s a coffee shop or croissanterie.
There weren’t too many people around, though and one or two photos were taken!
I hadn’t seen as many bridal couples as I had been told to expect so was quite surprised to come across this photo shoot. I could see nothing really photographically interesting about that particular alleyway. Maybe it had some significance for them!
Oh – and I deliberately caught the edge of the photographer’s lens!
Walking through Pl. St. Jaume brought me to Carrera Ferran with shops coming to life and then, totally unobtrusive, there was a church – Eglesia de St. Jaume, I think – an oasis of quiet amid the hustle and bustle of the retail world.
On past Las Ramblas and the squares around Placa de Reial were also coming to life
And I realised it was nearly lunchtime and I hadn’t had breakfast! But I also needed to go back to the hotel to check out, so I made that the priority, finished the bottle of water that was in my room and made my way to the cathedral square. There was so much life there at all times of the day and night that one final visit was a must.
The cathedral was open and I decided to go in. I was so glad I had done! It’s an elegantly simple building with a very long history, having been built between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries.
According to Wikipedia:
‘The cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Cross and Eulalia of Barcelona, co-patron saint of Barcelona, a young virgin martyr who, according to Catholic tradition, suffered martyrdom during Roman times in the city. One story says that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snowfall in mid-spring covered her nudity. The enraged Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street (according to tradition, the one now called Baixada de Santa Eulàlia). The relics of Saint Eulalia are entombed in the cathedral’s crypt.’
And the bonus? It is possible to walk around the roof and there is a very clever virtual reality presentation. Interestingly, there is a suggestion that the cathedral is modelled on the forest and I began to wonder whether that idea had crept in since Gaudi’s use of it in the Sagrada Familia descriptions or whether it had really been in the thinking from earlier.
The human figure walking down the steps here gives you an idea of the size of the towers and of the immensity of the whole.
There were always clowns and a bubbleman in the square so it was appropriate that one of the last photos I took before leaving for the airport and a colder England was of the smiley clown, tempting tourists!
A place to return to, perhaps…..
Living the Journey 