La Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudi with some Barcelona and Madrid

It took me a year to load all the pictures to my Flikr account. So here is PART 2 :) I fell in love with Antonio Gaudi's work! He's done so many masterpieces in Barcelona. I have only the La Sagrada Familia in the pictures below. Later on this week I will show you some more of his work. Seeing this church in person was amazing, it had just as big impact as the Vatican. The colors and mosaics are breathtaking.

Here is a little info about the beautiful La Sagrada Familia so you can understand before you see the pictures. It's very interesting!

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Catalan pronunciation: [səˈɣɾaðə fəˈmiɫiə]; English: Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, Spanish: Basílica y Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia), commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,^[4] and in November 2010 was consecrated and proclaimed a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI. Though construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style—combining Gothic and curvilinear, Art Nouveau forms^[8] with ambitious structural columns and arches.

^]Gaudí devoted his last years to the project and at the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.^[11] Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War—only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the mid-point in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining^[11] and an anticipated completion date of 2026—the centennial of Gaudí's death. The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona—over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself,^[12] over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design,^[12] and the recent possibility that an underground tunnel of Spain's high-speed train could disturb its stability.

The inside was amazing! The sun shining through the stain glass during sunset was indescribable.

Here are the beautiful fountains in Barcelona...

Here is another piece from Gaudi, he constructed these apartments for the higher class in 1906-1910

MADRID

The Spaniards LOVE their HAM. I've learned that if the ham leg has black hooves it's a better quality, and if you get a northern boar in the mountains that's been fed acorns and hazelnuts, well this is the BEST and most expensive and it truly melts in your mouth. Why can't America have stuff like this???

Madrid (Stock Exchange)

Here is the TORRO RING...which means Bull Fights below.

Poor Jim wanted to go so bad until he watched it LIVE in our hotel room that night. He agreed it was horrible and inhumane. I totally understand it's in their culture but it's being banned across Spain...so that says something. Before you judge go watch a YOU TUBE on the sport. I bet you'll feel the same as we do.

The markets were my favorite!! Here an old man made leather bracelets and dog tags. I got a couple of bracelets and BEAR a cute leather tag. He made it and engraved it right there with a machine from the 40's. He was so cute :)

THE FOOD..oh I'm doing a whole post on the Spanish tapas food...it was mind blowing!

These crustini's with the green stuff...well that's the best guacamole with black caviar I've EVER HAD!