Barcelona Day 3

Our Saturday began early at 8:30am when we quickly ate breakfast and got ready for more sightseeing.  We walked back to la Sagrada Familia so that we could beat the crowd to tour the inside of the church.  The line was fairly long when we arrived, but it moved pretty fast.

Walking into la Sagrada Familia was simply breathtaking.  Here are some pictures:

The ceiling is just so cool!  I love looking at all of the interesting shapes.

Another view of the ceiling

Stained glass windows located in the front of the church

Inside la Sagrada Familia

Inside la Sagrada Familia

The front of the church

Look at all the intricate details!  Every inch of the facade is covered in these decorations.

I was especially excited to take the elevator to the top of the church.  As I walked around, my legs were shaking because we were so high up.  The views of Barcelona were great.  It was especially cool to see views of la Sagrada Familia from another perspective.

View of Barcelona from on top of la Sagrada Familia.  You can see the Torre Agbar in the background.

Another view of Barcelona

We were so high up!

You could either take the elevator back down or you could climb down the 350 stairs.  We decided to take the stairs.  We got some more great views of Barcelona and la Sagrada Familia.  However, it was kind of scary climbing down the tiny, spiral stairs without having a rail to hold onto.

Inside of the tower looking down

Difficult spiral steps that we climbed down

After our great visit to the Sagrada Familia, we got lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Frida's.  This is the second time that I've been to a Mexican restaurant here in Spain.  Let me just say that the Mexican food in Spain is amazing and possibly better than the Mexican food that I've eaten in the United States.  I got the "Gringo," which were pretty similar to quesadillas.  It had meat prepared in the "al pastor" syle with cheese.  Very yummy!

Gringo tacos

Following our lunch, our group broke off.  The majority of the group went back to the hostel for a nap and shopping, while four of us (including myself) went to tour Camp Nou, the fútbol stadium of FC Barcelona.  I was especially excited to see the stadium because FC Barcelona recently won the UEFA Champions League's championship.

FC Barcelona is one of the two major fútbol teams in Spain.  Although there are many teams that play in the first division in Spain (like Santander's team!), Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two strongest teams.  This year, Barcelona won both La Liga (the championship for all first division teams in Spain) and the Champion's League (championship for the top fútbol teams in Europe).  The majority of FC Barcelona players also play for Spain's national team, so FC Barcelona is pretty good.

Outside of Camp Nou

The trophy room

The European Champion's Club trophy for winning the Champion's League in 2011

The field and stands.  The seats read, "More Than a Club."

Visitor's seats 

Press box

View of the field from the press box

After our tour of the beautiful stadium, we went back to our hostel and met up with the rest of our group for dinner.  We didn't stay out very late so we could pack and get ready for our return trip the next day.