And To Think It Is Only The Second Best Cathedral In Barcelona

On our first Monday, we did the El Born walk from the Rick Steves book.  We detoured a bit, to cover Placa St. Jaume and the Cathedral.  

There was originally a Roman Temple of Jupiter here 2,000 years ago.  Then in 343 AD, the first Christian cathedral was built here, followed by a Romanesque-style Church in the 11th Century.  The current Gothic cathedral was started in 1298 and finished in 1450, taking a staggering 152 years to build.  

And, it was done by hand, instead of by the DOT.

It's free to enter, so we got in the relatively quick moving line and entered.  The church is 300 feet long and 130 feet long.  The side chapels are quite ornate, the choir is glorious, and the high altar is amazing.

The cloister is probably my favorite part, as it has the symbols of the shoe guild and scissors.  As well as the famous 13 geese.

Obligatory picture of some of

the beautiful stained glass.

The pulpit

The choir

Ornamentation on the way down

to the crypt.  It was closed -- you

can only look down into it.

One of the many side chapels

In the cloisters.  This guy is definitely dead.  The

only question, is did he work in death before he died?

Fountain of St. Jordi in the Cloister.

A frog, a pond, and one of the 13 geese.  There have

been geese here for at least 500 years, if not

longer.  There are always 13, in memory of Eulalia's

13 years and 13 torments.

View from the cloisters.

Not sure what this represents.

The sun was at a bad angle to get

a good picture of the front of the 

Cathedral, but here's part of it.