Back to the Sagrada Familia

Vilafranca de Penedes to Barcelona
March 6, 2015

We woke up this morning a little warmer today than yesterday since the fire was still going.  Even though the chickens and hens are right around the corner from our room, they too were lazy getting up with the sun.  The turkey, Tomás, was very tame and must have known that I have only cooked one turkey in my life - and that was under duress.

We had fresh eggs from Ferran's hens and mated those with bread from the market and lots of yogurt that we had with chocolate chips in it.  Not really as healthy as plain greek yogurt, but it was good.  We also finished up some of the oranges that we had from the Valencia Market which were gifted to us at the wine bodega.  We were ready to go into Barcelona to meet up with Rytis, a student we had hosted as part of the Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Summer Institute.  Rytis is from Lithuania, and studied in High School in Chile and is now studying in Barcelona for College and graduate school.

Right beside the train station is the Freixenet Tour

We hopped a train from the station here in Vilafranca de Penedes and it only took us one hour to get to Barcelona.  If you were in Barcelona and wanted to visit the Freixenet, you could take the train from Barcelona.   The train is the R4 and it was super easy to take and only cost 4.90 Euros for an adult ticket one way.  If you want to have quiet nights away from the city, that's the way to go. You won't even need a car to get there from the train station.  Don't buy your ticket too early - you'll have to start your travels within two hours from when you purchase them from the automated ticket machines.

Once in Barcelona, we walked around Plaza de Catalunya and then made our way over to the Hotel Ayre which was just a couple of blocks from Barcelona's Arc de Triumph.  After checking into the hotel, we strolled around the city and found our way later in the day to the ongoing construction of the famous Basilica de la Sagrada Familia.  This is one of those worksights that you can see how much work is being done and then there is the magnitude of the structure that can make it overwhelming.  Skyscrapers are built quickly, but this really has been a steady progress over decades of time to get to the current state.  They expect it to be completed for the 100 anniversary of Guadi's death in 2026.

Sagrada Familia at night

We researched the time of the openings and decided it would be best to tour on Saturday morning.  You can buy your tickets online and skip the long tickets lines.  We opted for the audio guides too so we could tour leisurly, which also doesn't limit you to a timed tour with an English speaking guide.  The Basilica really defies reality, and if Disney was in the business of making churches, this may be it.

We walked around the church at night to take in the colorful stained glass as it is lit from inside.  There wasn't much going on, but you could hear a choir singing in the lower level church.  The weather was very cooperative, allowing us to stroll and stay warm as the sunlight slowly faded to darkness.

So in a large city, what can you do for dinner?  Almost anything.  Barcelona has a bunch of places to eat any type of international food.  We chose to eat some German Franks not far from the Sagrada Familia and then went back to the room to rest up for the next day.

The hotel was very modern and comfortable.  We were lucky to get a room at such a great deal - $75 a night and then 2 dollars more for city tax.  A great price for an excellent room in a large city.

We called it an early night so we could be up and out early for the tour and to meet Rytis that next day.