Graduation and the Sagrada

Ellie got up early to go help out with her friends from school who were setting up for graduation. Phil and I went to do some more sightseeing, starting with the Jewish quarter, El Call. The Jews were kicked out in 1492, so it has been a long time, and not much remains. We happened on an inscription on our way to the old synagogue.

The old synagogue was toney, and built in a time when the street level was lower, so now it is an underground synagogue.

From there we wound our way around the old city to the historical museum.

It was a very cool museum with miles of underground excavated ruins underneath. This was the only photo I took as I was browsing with Ellie. They had some nice videos about food, including one that contrasted the chocolate recipe of the new world (water, cocoa, chili powder, honey, and vanilla) and the old world (milk, cocoa, cinnamon, ginger and sugar).

We saw this street art:

Maybe a family member can help us with the reference to rainbows??

And as always, I am envious of the quality and size of snacks outside the US.

Look at this those little snack sized ones in the bottom left. And they are just a couple of Euros. The bread is crunchy outside and soft inside, the meat itself has flavor, and the whole thing is a delight. Why don't we have snacks like this?

We had lunch at a market and had lots of beans and vegetables. I am inspired to focus on  finding tasty recipes for beans and lentils when I get home.

And then...the Sagrada Familia. Wow. Outside...the whimsy, the storytelling. The faces are real. The stories are comprehensible. The colors pop. A traditional Gothic church, itself a fantasy of beauty, morphs into something else entirely, something organic and growing.

This side is about creation and it sings with joy. It looks like a grotto that is telling a story.

The shepherds and a puppy adoring the holy family. 

The other side is very different:

This side is skeletal, telling the story of death. 

I took this picture wondering who could be kissing in the story of the passion...this is the wrong kind of passion for that story....This is Judas kissing Jesus. 

It is hard to see the other two sides as they are still building this church, over 100 years later. The idea of designing something you cannot live to see completed...I love that sense of time.

And then inside!  Where the outside is narrative, the inside is about color and shape.

The organic lines make it seem like a forest, but with that color, it is a fantasy forest. It was extraordinary. If it is a church, the inside is the glory of nature and math.

We could have spent hours there, but we had to get back to get dressed for Ellie's second high school graduation. Graduation ceremonies are new...about 10 years old,  Trini said. There was no pomp and circumstance, and in fact the emcees were students.

the paper they were handed is a collection of all the photos of the kids in the class...not a diploma.

We said goodbye to Trini, Ellie went off with her friends, and Phil and I had our last dinner, including this amazing gazpacho, which I will be exploring when I get home.