Sagrada Familia--Only From the Outside?

Forgot to add - going into the towers for the views is a complete waste of money. Go to the Tibibado hill, or better, los bunkers del Carmel to have great views of the city. If you like to have a view from high up in the city, just spend the money on a good beer or cocktail and go up in the rooftop hotels of many in the 5 star hotels in the center.

Forgot to add - going into the towers for the views is a complete waste of money.

Possibly ... but going into the towers for the architectural rewards isn't necessarily.

#19 re the long queues, I was there last year in mid May and we pre-booked. When we got the the line for pre-booked tickets there was no one there. There were people inside, and a LOT of people milling around outside the Cathedral, but no-one in the queue - luck of the draw may be at play, but it looked to me that most of the tourists there that day did not want to pay to get in. The replies about the towers are right, you won't be missing out on a singular experience if you miss the tower

Similar experience - we had a timed ticket for 11:30 am, and we walked straight in with no queue at all.

There were hundreds of people queuing and milling about - a large number of them off cruise ships, and without pre-purchased tickets. There was a sign at the ticket office saying no tickets available for anything before 5:00 pm.

Here are my thoughts: I visited the Sagrada Familia a number of years ago. I am neither a huge fan of modern architecture, or of heaving crowds, but I really enjoyed the visit. Certainly, for me, the cathedral was considerably more impressive on the inside than the outside. It's more unique and architecturally interesting on the inside than on the out, at least for me.

I've only been inside 2 Gaudi buildings before, so I'm neither a connoisseur nor an aficionado. Still, I think he's very interesting, more so than his crazy fame might have you believe.

Actually, the thing I found most interesting about the Sagrada Familia was not the building itself, but the sense of being part of something that was being put together over the course of more than a century. It's being built in the style of medieval cathedrals: generation after generation, toiling on the same project, carrying out the vision of a long-dead architect. There's nothing else like that in existence, at least that I'm aware of. I enjoyed the unfinished aspect of the interior as much as I did Gaudi's amazing organic designs, rendered into stone.

It's a nice history lesson that you don't get when you visit a standard, long-completed cathedral. It's easy to forget what goes into it when you see the finished work.

It's a nice history lesson that you don't get when you visit a standard, long-completed cathedral.

Yes ... I don't mind that analysis from Giora at all ... it is still definitely a building site, and all the better for that.

However all those long-completed cathedrals aren't quite historic edifices carved in stone (so to speak) - many of them (most of them?) require huge amounts of maintenance and care just in order to remain viable ... they are very much organic creatures, and therefore showing their age!

Thanks for all the feedback and advice.

A bigger fan of hills than towers here.
And I assume Robert Hughes' book on Barcelona will touch on the less publicized architectural sights.

Any preferred guidebooks to the city? Not near an English-language library.
But the usual suspects, I suppose: LP, RG, Eyewitness...
Thanks again.

Robert Hughes' book on Barcelona

Another famous Australian expat (like Lazlo Toth, the crazy hammer man) - we really do punch above our weight!

Robert Hughes´ Barcelona book is absolutely great. But not a book for random tourists - it gives a great background to history and culture. I read it at least 3 times. It reads like an interesting history book, but the author gives his opinion all the time. It is a great read.

Colm toibin´s Barcelona book is highly recommended as well. It is more of a personal experience, therefore easier to read.

If you ever venture to the Land Down Under CFC, then I can also recommend Robert Hughes The Fatal Shore ... it is a historical masterpiece. He told me once (at a gallery opening in New York) that he spent ten years in the British Library writing it. But it certainly made his reputation.