Our Visit to the Tallest Church in the World

The church already looks almost complete when I went there.

The Sagrada Familia is going to be the next tallest church in the world, surpassing the Ulm Minister in Germany.

"I'm writing this blog with my Mom. She contributed with some of the technical and architectural information about this church. Since it's one of the most glorious architecture in history and build beyond in its time."

I woke up in our apartment with my family. The sun was shining as always in Spain! So the day has come and finally we are going to the Sagrada Familia!
The most iconic monument in Barcelona!  And one of the top list in our family bucket list.

The Sagrada Familia was designed by the famous Spanish Architect Antoni Gaudi. The Church has 3 grand facades. The first completed facade was titled The Nativity facade "The Birth of Christ". Where you can see Gaudi's love of nature are all visible here. Second is The Passion facade which is almost finished when I went there. Third is The Glory facade which is still under construction. 

I was looking at the scaled model and learned in the audio guide that the church is designed to have 18 spires, represents: The 12 Apostles, The 4 Evangelists, The Virgin Mary and the tallest of them all is Jesus Christ which is the central spire. The church was hoped to be finished by 2026 which was going to be Gaudi's 100th death anniversary but other decorative elements believed to be finished by 2032.

The Nativity Facade where you can see Gaudi's love for nature.

Consist of hundreds of plants and animals all sculpted into the stone.

This facades relates to all nature and creation of Life.

The Passion Facade represents the pain and sacrifice of Jesus

The Glory Facade will be the biggest and most monumental among the 3 facades.
It represents the glory of Jesus, and the process of Death, Purgatory, The Final Judgement and The Glory.
This facade is still under construction.

We booked our ticket online in advance in order to avoid long queues. The admission is around 22 Euros with audio guide so you can walk around at your own pace. For more information, just check the following link. 

here.

When we went inside, we were in awe! We were all speechless. A jaw-dropping experience! The walls were all filled with huge stained glass panes so the light coming in will be multi-coloured. The pillars looked like the tallest trees in the forest made out of concrete. He wants to mimick a forest feeling as you walked along the nave. 

I loved how the light changes in colours with those stained glass!
Gaudi treat nature as his teacher.. He observed how light changes within a day .
That is how he mimicked nature. He's purely an architectural genius!

Another view of the church which is the Transept. When you're inside you will feel a different ambience
 that you haven't experience before. Seems like you're in heaven and everything is beautiful and solemn.
You will appreciate the beauty of nature all translated inside a church. And you will really feel the presence of God.

The High Altar

Ceiling is stunning as well. These huge columns represents trees and branches.
All elements are related to nature.

There is also a mini-museum next to the church. "The geometry of nature" I think this is a simple explanatory for kids like me how Gaudi played with geometry to make the construction easy. You can touch the illustrated models there. Then there is a museum underground which shows all the models of the church and sculpted plaster of all the elements used in the church.

Surface generated by straight lines resting
on another 2, not on the same plane.

Interaction how Hyperbolic Paraboloid works.

Gaudi knows he would not be able to finish his magnum opus.
He intentionally created and left a scaled model
as his blueprints for the future architects to carry on his works,
In order to translate his ideas and visions for this church.

Restored original scaled model of the capital of
 the central nave and apse of the column.

Here are some of the Original scaled model by Gaudi
which was destroyed and smashed into pieces
 during the Spanish Civil War.

Sagrada Familia modelling studio where Gaudi's original works are carefully restored
and reproduced to different scales to ensure faithfulness to the original plan and design.

My family in front of the Nativity Facade.

With my little sister.

There you go! I hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of Sagrada Familia

 For sure I will come back here when the church is finally finished in 2026. 

Well, that's the church everyone. And I am going to

give you a surprise,,, still one of amazing works of Gaudi

See you next week in Parc Guell!

 Peace out.😉

Hola Madrid!

Monument of King Charles III and the famous Tio Pepe advertisement behind
at Puerta del Sol

I first woke up in the light of sunshine with clear blue skies. The others were asleep so I woke them up. We dressed up and we then went out to the colourful streets of Madrid.

We first ate breakfast at a churreria near our apartment, the churros were actually so yummy that I want to eat more. I suggest you should try it with the hot chocolate sauce that they offered.

Churros time!! We love this Churreria nearby at our Apartment

Then we went to Puerta del Sol "means Gate of the Sun" which is located at the very heart of Madrid. Its the 0 Km of the radial roads of the City. I love this famous square as a kid you'll get amazed and have fun with street artist, different cartoon and video game characters like the Mario Brothers, The Simpsons and some other characters in history. You just give a 1 Euro tip and you can take a lot of pictures as you want with them! 😁 They're very cool and friendly! 

I was happy that time travelling with my grandparents Papa and Mama

After that we went strolling along the streets and visit some tapas and cheese shops. Then went to the famous Mercado de San Miguel so we can look at those delicious foods like pastries, fruits, and still a lot of TAPAS! 😆 But, sadly I can't eat those Tapas served there. I just ate some sweet pastries around the corner.

Mercado de San Miguel

The Famous Tapas 

Im glad I found this! Its Yummy! 😍

After the food market, we then went to the Almudena Cathedral so we took some photos. I love this church with its painted colourful ceilings. It is very Beautiful and has lots of patterns!

Beautiful ceiling with its colourful patterns😍

We prayed inside and thanked God for everything.
My Grandmom taught me to make a wish with every church we visit.
(If its your first time to visit the church)

Our Family Picture at Plaza de Oriente

I and Raechel with our Grandparents Papa and Mama

It is finally lunch, so much walking around Madrid can get you very hungry. I ate many food and we ate at a restaurant called Rincon de Roque. I highly recommend it! Its very cheap and delicious! And guess what, all the chefs are Filipino! They even gave us a free dessert! They're very nice and helped us order their best dishes. And you have to eat before 4 o' clock since some of the restaurants and bars close down for their siesta, and they'll re-open at night.

At Rincon de Roque! Every meal we ordered was delicious!!😍
(My mom helped me do the layout of this picture.)

It's good to have an overview of the city by Hop in/off Bus on your first day

Look at this amazing Architecture! My Mom loves it so much!

Below is our prepared itinerary by my Mom in Madrid. Its good to plan ahead your trip to get familiarized the city by having checklists and save all the pictures and maps you decided to visit. So you can understand more and easier for you to explore the city. 😃

I hope you enjoyed this blog.:)

I want to visit the tallest church in the world, want to come with me? Good.

Ok, meet me in Barcelona next week.

Rianne Chloe ,Peace out! 😉

Our Trip to the Vatican City

With a lot of time, climbing steps to the Cupola and avoiding the fear of falling down, I'm able to see the 360 degrees view above the Vatican church. 

We received this letter from the Vatican as an invitation
to attend the Papal Mass.

 In preparation of going to Vatican. Tickets to the papal mass is free! But at least 3 months before the trip, you have to send the filled up form through fax to the Vatican. You will receive this post mail from the them after a month at least. Then you go to the "Bronze door" near the Swiss guards. Present this letter to pick up your tickets for the Papal Mass the next day.You can find the tickets and reference here.

I kept my tickets as my souvenirs from the Vatican Museum 

Skip the line by buying an online ticket with guided tour and an assigned time slot in advance to the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel. (Its highly recommended since the queues as you can imagine are so freaking long!!) That's what we did and we have to fill up a form before going inside and joined the group tour.

We went inside and all we saw was statues and paintings with gold leaf everywhere. The following photos below are my favorites inside the Museum.

Colossal Statue of Osiris-Dionysus

Ceiling at the Gallery of Maps 

Enormous Nero's Bathtub

Decorated Ceilings and Murals inside

With my Dad and little sister Raechel

 The walls were etched with paintings, and scenes from the Bible. My eyes are so full and satisfied with all the arts and paintings I've seen inside. The Best part of the tour is the Sistine Chapel, too bad were not allowed to take pictures. I saw the famous ceiling inside where you can see "The Creation of Adam" and "The Last Judgement" all painted by Michelangelo. I started to admire his works! Mommy was right! I'm really curious and wondering how he worked on those paintings on such high walls and ceilings! 

After we took the lift and on our way to the last portion,
climbing the stairs up to the Cupola.

I look tired! 😄😄 But the view was rewarding!

So after me and my mom went to the Cupola. "The Dome which is the symbol of Church of Rome and the Beacon that draws thousands of Pilgrims and visitors at the heart of Christianity". 

Climbing to the Cupola takes 551 steps in total!! First, we took the lift and it costs 7 euros and it saves us 320 steps of climbing. And then we took the rest by foot to stairs which cost another 5 euros. 

It was a very tiring to climb up the stairs inside the dome and then as we went near the ceiling starts to curve I panicked and got claustrophobic!😆 But it took us a few minutes and we climbed up slowly, then after reaching the last portion of the stairs, its gets more steeper and narrower and you need to hold on to the rope as a guide on the small spiral stairs and then... Voila! Hard work finally pays off! 

Then I saw the 360 view down the Vatican city and other parts of Rome. It was an amazing and rewarding experience.

My mom took this photo of the St. Peter's Square!

I don't recommend this to people who is afraid of heights and has claustrophobia.

We went down the steps which is a lot easier and faster. Then here again! 😆The rope on the small spiral steps so you can hold on and cannot fall down. Thankfully I didn't even stumble because of the useful rope.😅😁

Then we proceed down to the St. Peter's Basilica. We prayed inside and thanked God for all the blessings and for our safe journey to Rome.

Inside the St. Peter's Basilica

My Beautiful Family  

The Pieta sculptured by Michelangelo

The view from St. Peter's Square

Feel at home at Residenza dell' Ollmata Aparthotels 

Then we bought some Rosary souvenirs at the nearby shops then went to the grocery and bought some goodies and food to be cooked for our dinner then afterwards we came home to our apartment which I highly recommend since its cheap and comfortable. 

Daddy helping preparing our breakfast

The view from our room

We cooked our breakfast and dinner makes our trip more cheap. It was tiring but fun, rewarding & spiritual trip. Climbing, interesting lectures and long walks makes me hungry for paella!

Meet me next week in Madrid, Spain!

Rianne Chloe, peace out