10/19 – a beautiful Sunday, and we’re back in summer, with warm, balmy breezes and temperature in the 80s. Here in Barcelona, the people speak Catalan, so it’s Buen Dia, instead of Buenes Dias.

After a coffee and pastry breakfast (we have to find less caloric food now that we’re not hiking every day, but around here, breakfast means pastry), we walked to the gorgeous Cathedral of the Cross and Santa Eulalia, and participated the high, sung mass. The priests and the choir had such beautiful voices that I was left speechless and (of course) teary. Even the sermon, of which I did not understand a word, was a joy to listen to.

The Cathedral is home to a flock of 13 white geese that have their own pond within the church walls. It is said that the number of geese reflects the age at which Santa Eulalia, patron saint of Barcelona, was martyred.

We emerged from the mass into a crush of people enjoying the Sunday street markets.

There were also many demonstrators speaking out for the independence of Catalan.

All day, we encountered demonstrators, young and old, wearing red or yellow shirts and buildings draped in Catalan flags. They would like to secede from Spain and form their own country.

This city is all about the famous organic architect, Antoni Gaudi. After a delicious tapas lunch, we walked to la Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s most famous work in progress. This cathedral, started in the 1880s, isn’t due to be completed for many years. The outside is covered in scaffolding, and there was a long line of folks waiting to buy tickets to see the interior. I balked at the $25. entrance fee, so here are our pix of the outside, and some internet pix of the inside.

After looking at these pix, we probably should have coughed up the $50., but oh well. There’s another Gaudi site on our list of things to do tomorrow!