Churches

I've seen so many churches (and beautiful ones at that) in my travels, that they needed their own post.

Sangrada Familia, Barcelona. Gaudi's last work that is still not complete, as modern day architects and builders try to finish using his original plans and are not doing so well.

The Gaudi-built facade.

A modern stained glass window (built to Gaudi's plan).

The modern facade - so different.

This is cool - its a door at the front of the building.

This is not actually a church, but a shrine to Mary in the side of a building in Barcelona.

Another church in Barcelona.

This church was open at the top and had a tropical style garden on the inside, but still seems to function as a church!

One of my favourites. First built about the 4th century, and not a lot done to it since. Its in Perugia (Umbria) in Italy.

The Duomo in Perugia. Europeans love to gather on steps of churches and other ancient buildings, I've noticed. They don't do anything really. Just sit and talk and sometimes read or eat.

The Duomo in Florence. This is spectacular.

The Duomo in Florence from afar. Actually from the hill I was staying on. Great place to watch the sunset.

A cathederal in Rome. They were having a church service so I had to be careful about taking photos - hence so far back.

The organ in the same cathederal. I managed to hear this play which was fantastic.

Earlier... a procession from the same cathederal. It was so loud!

The Duomo in Florence again.

Very un-spectacular, but it was nice to see this tiny church in the Cinque Terra which is still used today and doesn't have all the decorative arts adorning it.

Again, not a church. But this was a shrine to Mary along the walk of the Cinque Terra. They are everywhere!

Yet another.

I loved this church. It was in a tiny village in the hills outside Nice. This was the most spectacular part of it and it was really plain on the inside, but you could tell that it is well looked after by its people and and lot of love goes into it.