Barcelona — City Sightseeing and walking Old Town

I‘ve given you an in-depth look before at Antoni Gaudi’s incredible Basílica de la Sagrada Família. For some reason I was thinking it would finally be complete this trip, but Sagrada Família is still a work in progress. It has been ever since ground was broken on this immense project way back in March 1892. That right; this basilica has been under construction now for almost 139 years, and apparently it has at least four more years to go before completion. As for its status as a basilica, that was bestowed on the incompleted church in 2010. So, you’ll have to wait until at least some time to 2026 for crane-free photos of the exterior:

For additional views of this magnificent example of Antoni Guadi’s unique blend of Gothic Revival, Art Nouveau, and Catalan Modernism (Modernisme), check out these articles replete with photos of both the exterior and interior as they appeared a few years ago:

• Sagrada Família — The Exterior
• Sagrada Famíliar — The Interior Part 1
• Sagrada Famíliar — The Interior Part 2

Many of Monday’s photos were taken on City Sightseeing’s Red Line tour. Today we’ll look at some of the sights on their Blue Line tour, then stroll through Barcelona’s Old Town. In case you don’t recall those two tour lines, here’s City Sightseeing’s route map:

Let’s start with the image below of the Hospital de Sant Pau, which ended its role as a hospital in 2009. It now serves as a museum and cultural center:

Another fun photo subject is Torre Andreu, a.k.a., “La Rotonda,” located on the corner of Passeig de Sant Gervasi and Avenue Tibidabo in Barcelona’s Sarriá-San Gervasio District.

This area is very near Antoni Gaudi’s fabulous Park Güell, which we did not visit on this trip. For a sampling of what Park Güell has to offer, you can see my previous article here: 54 Days at Sea — Visiting Park Güell, Barcelona. There you’ll find fascinating images such as this:

A couple more images before we get off the tour bus and start hitting Old Town near our hotel:

On the 7th and 9th of February I’ll be presenting Barcelona’s “Old Town” (Gothic Quarter) in much more detail. But as we’ve gotten off the Blue Line bus and moved our luggage into our hotel room, let me show you where Ursula and I saw next as we headed right down the street into buildings from long ago. Let’s start with the Barcelona Cathedral:

I’ll leave you today with this photo gallery/slide show of sights in this area, all within ten minutes walking distance of the cathedral: