The Jelly Tot Church

A friend of the family once called referred to the Sagrada Familia as the Jelly Tot Church, as she thinks the building is absolutely horrible - clearly does not experience culture, and clearly has never been inside! I blogged a few weeks ago now to say that before I left Barcelona, the one thing that I desperately wanted to do was to go and see the inside of the Sagrada Familia - and now I have! I am so glad that I did and I feel that my sight seeing of the city is finally complete! I realised that I didn't actually have that much time left here. It is only two weeks until I head back to the UK/France for christmas and then when I return, I am only here for just under a month. When I think about how I have now been here for eleven weeks, it seems like a long time, but when I think about how quickly it has gone, I can believe how soon this trip is going to be over. I thought it best to visit the Jelly Tot before I left for christmas as I know I have longer when I get back, but that time will be finishing up and seeing as many people as I can before I leave and I didn't want to miss out so just to be sure I decided now was the best time. Emily had already gone inside with her parents, but said she could visit an infinite amount of times and definitely recommended the audio guide. Lucy however hadn't been inside, so when she came it was great opportunity to visit. And the 14€ it cost to enter was definitely more than worth it. 
We went on Monday, a day before a public holiday which is usually given as a holiday anyway as it is a linking day to the weekend, and so we thought it would be very busy. We booked tickets online and arrived at our allocated time just to be sure, to find that there was no queue whatsoever and we just were at the front. Atleast our tickets were bought and we could just enter. The audio guide explained each side of the cathedral. The side where you currently enter is the side of passion, where the pillars are structured to look like bones. It is a very big and impressive side, a lot different to the side that Gaudi saw completed before he died, however I think a lot nicer. The passion side is not a Gaudi OTT, and the stucture and design of the carvings was by someone else, followed closely by Gaudi's plans. It is a great entrance to go into. The detailing everywhere on the building and even on the doors symbolises something. There is always a reason to every last detail and listening to them telling you about it, there is no wonder it takes so long to complete the building of a cathedral this size. Ready for our visit we enter through the doors. 

 The sun was out and it was a great start to the day. We were all having fun in our headphones!




















We entered the building and the view that we were approached with was just incredible. It was nothing like the works of Gaudi that I had seen before, but it was better. The inside was like a forest of trees, through the leaves at the top of those trees, light shines through. The tree trunks branch off into branches at the bulbs. The structure is just amazing. The pillars have to be there to hold up the roof, yet they have been designed in a way that look beautiful. When you stare up at the structure, you feel as if you are in an enchanted forest, where there are amazing colours of light falling on the leaves. You want to walk through the trees and through the forest and find out where it takes you. Where does it take you? Does it take you anywhere at all?





















The interior of this space is just incredible. It is grand and it is impressive and it doesn't need to be over the top at the same time. We sat just staring and gazing at the ceiling, gazing at the light peering through the leaves and traveling down the branches to the floor. At the end of the audio, it says 'You come in search of something more and we like to think that you have found it once you have visited'. What did I find? I think that visiting the Sagrada Familia allowed me to think past the religion, and think past what everything was biblically meant for, but that it made me think structures can be beautiful, and there can be many meaning to why they are there. I think the amazing thing about the Jelly Tot, is that you create you own meaning for the branches and the trees and the leaves. Are they just there to hold the roof up? Are they there to inspire you and give you the feeling of tranquility? Are they there for a religious meaning? Or are they literally just there? What do you make of the interior? What do I make of the interior? Could you think about other buildings in this way, or is just because this particular building is so incredible that it takes you really feeling the structure. I will be forty years old when the Sagrada Familia is finally finished, and I would love to be able to revisit, and see how that can improve what is already and incredible structure, interior and building.