the place where it all started.

four days of holiday give us some free time to catch up with the writing.

After visiting Mt. Nebo, we were led to a Greek Orthodox Church in Madaba to see what was regarded as the oldest map of the middle east constructed of mosaic in the 6th ~ 7th century.

The mosaic covers the biblical land of Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan and of course, what is now, Israel.

The city of Jerusalem was clearly the most important location then, highly developed with city walls, defensive towers, and network of streets.

it then crossed my mind, it probably still is the root of all conflicts there is in the middle east, if not the world, ever since the days of the crusades...

intuition...

well, I stopped for another few months before picking up the writing on this particular topic, simply what happened still troubled me deep in the night...

when travelling along the edge of the only route leading to the summit, I could feel the air was becoming drier, and temperature was definitely dropping. Luckily for us, we have brought enough winter clothing, but it still didn't stop us shivering once in a while after breathing in the cool, dry air.

When viewed from far, the temple was dwarfed by the massive broadcasting structure located nearby, but upon arriving at the front of the construction, one's attention was immediately drawn to the meticulously detailed front walls.

Standing on the porch, facing south, I could already see in the distance that darkness was slowly dropping its veil on the land below. As we were told by our friend that we could gain access to the top of the temple to catch the view of the city of Barcelona, we hurried in, and finding our way to the tower which led to the roof.

As expected, the interior of the temple was finely decorated. Dimly lit, and thus highlighting the stained glass decoration located along the masonry walls. Perhaps due to its location, or perhaps it's almost the end of the day, the place was sparsely populated. A few candles were flickering momentarily amongst low murmuring sounds in a language I could not comprehend.

To the left of the hall was an opening which gave way to another narrow corridor, which at its end, was the entrance to a lift which travelled to the roof.

I was still deep in thought on my previous deja vu experience, and suddenly, the name of the place flashed through my mind - Tibidabo...what an interesting name, I wondered what it meant...

there's a strange sensation within me which I couldn't quite place...but I could suddenly feel my heart was beating increasingly faster, a sign that my adrenalin was pumping...

...but why?

a case of deja vu...

have not updated this blog for quite a while, reason was because I didn't know how to begin with this particular entry...





let's talk about the idea of "déjà vu" first. you can read up everything you want to know on deja vu at the wikipedia, in my experience, however, it's about when I had that sudden feeling that the place looked familiar even though I have never visited the place the whole of my life. I remember such sensation only happened a few times in the entirety of my life so far, but my experience in Barcelona was one that would never be forgotten.

After visiting the former Olympic site in Montjuic, our friend drove us in his car away from the leisurely South towards the mountaineous North. As the car climbed through the winding path leading up to the hills, what came into view was rows of houses fitting sporadically along either side of the valley. A strange and somewhat chilling sensation shot through me, and I thought to myself, "this place looks familiar, somewhere I've been to...", just as I was trying to study the details of these houses, there was a picture flashed across my mind, a narrow path for coaches (horses), houses along side the steep valley, dimly lit by either gas light and candle flame...isn't this the same dreamscape that I came to many years before?

unknowingly, I was breathing heavier, and there were glimpses of fragmented images that were appearing at the back of my mind, whether they were out of my imagination or actual experience that I had before, I could hardly distinguish the two. Suddenly, the car stopped, our friend turned around and said, " this is almost midway to the top, let's stop for a while and have a look at the plain of Barcelona."

the view was definitely breathtaking, but what caught my eyes also were a church like construction at the top of the hill.

"That's where we are going," my friend pointed at the church.

a church at the top of the hill? i felt uneasy without knowing why...

homage to the Gods...

after having a satisfying lunch by the waterfront, our friends drove us up the south side of the city, and making our way up the hill of Montjuic, home to a number of famous museums, galleries (incl. the Fundacio Joan Miro), as well as the site for the 1992 Olympic Stadium.

also tucked in this majestic setting was the telecommunication tower designed by Sapnish Architect Santiago Calatrava. his skills in making the most ordinary objects into something out of this world was one of the characteristics of his works, and this particular one, was a monument, to all visitors to the place in the future of time, that would keep one in awe.

Temple of La Sagrada Familia

Gaudi's final piece of work before he was tragically killed in an traffic accident. the church, or should we say the temple, was perhaps one of its kind in the entire world, while we have different churches around the world with varying design, they can still be somehow classified to a certain period or style of expression. but the Sagrada Familia was something entirely different and simply made ones jaws dropped to the ground!!!

we are curious on why the name "temple" instead the more common "church" is used throughout in Spain despite the fact that this is supposed to be a Roman Catholic Basilica.

three facades that it is supposed to have, Gaudi's completed Nativity facade is hugely different from the Passion facade. while both are remarkable piece of architecture, the question of whether the temple ought to be completed or to be left as originally incompleted to preserve the pureness of Gaudi's works remain to be highly controversial.

the Passion facade, completed by Gaudi, when observed closely, reveals immensely delicate work of art, but when viewed from a distance, can not help but think that it's the face of an unnamable being that only appears in the darkest of one's dreams.

the duality of the image in front was troubling...why was a place for the worship of God modelled in such way?