Sagrada Família

Antoni Gaudí took over the Sagrada Família project in 1883 and worked on it for the next 43 years, eventually moving into the construction site so he could supervise it every day. When he died in 1926, the basilica was less than a quarter built. A century later it's still under construction — the current target completion year is 2026, the centenary of his death, though the spires above the central nave were only topped out in late 2024.

What sets it apart from every other cathedral in Europe is that Gaudí designed the interior to feel like a forest. The columns branch overhead like trees, the stained glass shifts colour with the hour (warm reds and oranges in the morning on the east side, cool blues and greens in the late afternoon on the west), and the geometric ceiling vaults are based on hyperboloids and paraboloids — shapes he derived from upside-down models hung from the ceiling of his workshop. Photos do not prepare you for it. Plan to spend twenty minutes just standing in the nave looking up.

Outside, the two completed facades tell opposite stories. The Nativity facade (the east side, the one Gaudí himself finished) is dense with figures, plants, animals, and biblical scenes — every surface alive. The Passion facade (the west side, designed by Gaudí but built after his death by sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs) is the opposite: angular, stark, almost brutal in its grief. Walk around the whole building before going in to see them both.

A ticket with tower access is worth the extra €14 for a first visit. The lift takes you up the Nativity tower, you walk across a bridge between the spires, and descend a tight spiral staircase. The view of Barcelona is fine but the architectural intimacy is the point — you see the construction joints, the catenary curves, the unfinished stonework up close.