Eli in Europe: Last Day in Barcelona

On our first day in Barcelona we had visited La Sagrada Familia, but we were unable to enter because we didn't have tickets. Well, today we did have tickets! As soon as we entered the church, we realized that the interior was just as amazing as the exterior. There were stained class windows, sculptures, paintings, and murals throughout the church. If you want to learn more about the church, my prior post has a very brief history of the church.

The church is very large and has a high ceiling-even more impressive when you consider it was built without any cranes!

Brilliant stained-glass windows make the church very colorful.

After exploring the church, we stopped for a quick meal of paella. I was rather dismayed to see the man behind the counter microwaving my meal, but it wasn't too bad.

Our next expedition was perhaps the most frightening of the trip. From across Barcelona, you can see a mountain with a palace on top of it. I looked it up on the internet and it turns out that this palace is accessible through a gondola lift.

Palau Nacional in Barcelona. I wanted to see it, but we were unable to find it. I did find this picture on the internet though!

My father initially was weary about the gondola but he eventually agreed to it. After a long walk around a pier, we found the lift. The tower it started from looked old and rusty, which was not encouraging.
I was beginning to feel nervous, but a couple of other tourists reassured be that it was safe. Nevertheless, suspended high above the Mediterranean, I forgot about their reassurances and regretted my decision to take the gondola. It did offer sweeping overhead views of Barcelona, but I did not really want to look out the window (or down.) When we reached the top of the mountain, the only building was a hotel. It was a little disappointing, but I did get some good pictures of Barcelona from above (and a new fear of heights.)