It is a must in Barcelona, so there are hundreds of webs, blogs and guides talking about the Sagrada Familia temple. In the official website you will find practical information to organise your visit, online ticket sales and explanations about the genius Antoni Gaudí, the history of the Basílica and much more.
My only goal in this post is to share some photos, personal feelings and advices from our family visit in September 2014.
Buy your tickets in advance
Tickets lines to Sagrada Familia visit are famous in Barcelona, they sometimes circled the building, so the Town Hall has urged the patronage of the temple to reorganize queues in order to not occupy sidewalks.
On the other hand, the capacity for visiting the towers is limited and each ticket has a concrete schedule.
We didn't want to waste time on queues or risk to miss the tower visit, so we bought online tickets a few days in advance.
Audio guide for children
Audio guides are available for adults and for children. We took both, because my 7 and 9 year old daughters love to find the number that corresponds to the listening in each room, to click it and listen to the explanation until the following point the speaker says.
However, I don't recommend it in a crowdy day because kids have a shorter version than adults, and although it's really funny for them (it's like a game, asking to find figures and hidden letters on the facade) it's very easy to lose sight of our little detectives. If I did it again, I'd ask for the children version for all of us!
Two times better than one
I had read about the temple before getting there, but I was not prepared for what I saw when I entered the temple after the explanations of the Nativity facade:
The picture only takes an aisle of the temple and it's far from describe the feelings I had on the view of all these colours entering through the windows while the sun set.
We were lucky because we could see it although it wasn't planned.
During the visit I realized how Gaudí took light as an instrument to transmit feelings: the rising sun light enters through Nativity facade windows, with colours that talk about joy for the birth of Jesus; mid-day light goes through the Glory facade to illuminate the main entrance; and the sun set lights of the Passion facade give a more serious atmosphere. The Towers
Sagrada Familia will have a total of 18 towers, eight among them are presently completed (four on the Nativity facade and four on the Passion facade).
It is possible to go up to one of the towers in each facade, but you must buy a special ticket (4,5 €), which will indicate the 15 minute time for your visit. When buying the ticket you must choose the tower: note that the tower on the Passion facade offers views over the west (see photo), and the one on the Nativity facade over the east of the city.
The entrance to the Tower's visit is inside the enclosure of the temple, so it is easy to fit the time to the Tower during the temple visit, just take the lift to go up, step down the staircases (recommended) and return to the visit where you left off. And before going out
The Crypt
A quite wide stairs lead down to the crypt, where spaces are as large as in the basilica.
There is a Chapel of the black Holy Virgin of Montserrat, the patron saint of Catalonia, and the tomb of Gaudí at the feet of the Holy Virgin of Mount Caramel.
The School
Outside the basilica, near the way off, take a minute to entry to the small school that Gaudí designed for the sons of the workers on the temple.
It is built using Catalonian brick and has a beautiful wavy roof. Unfortunately, this building will be demolished to make way for the construction of the temple.
The Museum
I especially like structures, so I loved the collection of original models and design techniques used by Gaudí in his creations.
