La Merce Festival

Today in Barcelona is the La Merce Festival which is held in honour of Mare de Deu de la Merce, the Patron Saint of Barcelona. This festival bids goodbye to the summer with a bang and welcomes the cooler months of Autum. (The weather today was 28 degrees). What a great day to see some of the most amazing sites in Barcelona.

First stop...Park Guell.
Park Guell is a garden in the Gracia district of Spain. It was designed by Gaudi and built from 1900-1914. The mosaics are amazing and we got to sit on the longest bench in the world.

Then off to Sagrada Familia

This is the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family and was also designed by Gaudi. Gaudi did not live to see the church finished, but work continues today and the current estimated completion is 2026. (Looks like I'll have to come back then!) The church will have 3 grand facades, the Nativity to the East, the Passion to the West and the Glory to the South. It is an architectural masterpiece. The genius of the man is out of this world.

After that some tapas for lunch we drove to Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey which hosts the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary. The rock formations in the area were quite spectacular.

Last stop for the evening was to take another look at Casa Batlo, a building restored by Gaudi. It seems from what we saw today was that the goal of the designer (Gaudi) was to avoid straight lines completely. It has been a beautiful day in Barcelona. Tomorrow we have a long drive ahead of us, over the Pyrenees Mountains and onto Lourdes.