Friend won't go to "building site"

[ChedderGorgeous]

My friend and I are due to go away "somewhere in europe" at Easter. We had agreed on a city break. Lots of options were discussed and we settled on Barcelona where neither of us have been. Flights booked but no accommodation yet. One of the sites we discussed being excited to see is la sagrada familia.

In conversation, I mentioned that it seemed crazy to us, living in 2024 that it had taken 140 yrs to complete and still wasn't quite built, but in the past this was the norm for cathedrals. My friend was more silent for the rest of the convo and today she asked if we could actually rebook for someone else as she didn't fancy going to a "building site" on her holiday (she particularly likes to visit cathedrals wherever she goes). Wtf? I've tried explain to her that it won't be like the quarry of the HS2 extension there, but she is insistent that she only sees a cathedral in "all its glory".

I'm so frustrated with her (given flights are already booked) that quite frankly I'm going to cancel. AIBU?

I thought Sagrada Familia was finished at last and it wouldn’t take much googling to show her it’s worth visiting.

Just tell her you made a mistake and it is
in fact complete now.

Pop her on the train to Girona. That one's finished!!

I love La Sagrada Familia, but I don't think it's even the best place to visit in Barcelona. It is a beautiful city with so much heritage and parks to visit, as well as the seafront and just walking around the city is a delight with its amazing architecture and wide avenues filled with orange trees and restaurants serving the most gorgeous tapas imaginable. The weather at Easter will be sublime - hot but not too hot. Don't let her stop you visiting with or without her.

Tell her to close her eyes whenever you're in sight of that stunningly beautiful building site that people fly from all over the world to wonder at, and try not to be distracted by the architecture as you steer her blind and stumbling across the road.

I haven't read all the replies but I've been to Barcelona twice and have been up to the la sagrada familia both times, but only the outside and I wouldn't call it a building site as such, I've also never heard one person that went inside come out complaining that it was in there either.

Barcelona is wonderful the first visit we did the blue bus route second time the red bus route, both set price tickets.
It's like a hop and stop getting on and off at whatever site/attraction takes your fancy. The buses a pretty regular so even if your friend did get off at the stop and didn't like it she wouldn't have to hang around for ages.

If she has lived a sheltered existence I would be more worried about the pickpockets in las Ramblas.

She sounds pretty thick tbh.

No way would I cancel my flights. If she doesn’t want to go with you that’s fine, just go on your own.

To hear a friend of mine say something as moronic as this would genuinely make me feel differently about them.

I love this response. So haughtily disparaging. And just what I'd have hoped to write.

The Sagrada Familia isn't a cathedral (within the Catholic church, it's technically a 'minor basilica'). Barcelona Cathedral is quite nice, too.

Would your friend refuse to visit Milan to see the cathedral because a shopping centre was being built elsewhere in the city? Presumably not. So why skip Barcelona when their 'building site' is so much more exciting?

It seems perverse to refuse to visit Barcelona because the Sagrada Familia is nearing completion, when if it had never been started I'm willing to bet silly friend would have visited the city without a qualm!

I absolutely love MN for this level of pedantic knowledge (and I mean that as a compliment)!

I’m with her. I wouldn’t want to go all that way to see a building site.

IT'S NOT A FUCKING BUILDING SITE

• *And it's not the only thing to do in the city of Barcelona.

Is this post real? Because there are other cathedrals in Barcelona anyway

She’s as thick as 2 short of planks. Unless you want to cancel the flights and the holiday tell her there’s lots of cathedrals and other things to do… and tell her to google La Sagrada Familia (it’s stunning). I’m surprised if she’s visited other cathedrals that she is this ignorant but I guess that people like her exist.

It’s not a building site. It’s a work in progress. You’re embarrassing yourself.

Well, I have been to Barcelona twice and not been to Sagrada Familia. Have been to Paris some half a dozen time and not been to the Louvre. Took me 4 visits to Rome to get to the Sistine Chapel. It’s different if it’s somewhere really far away where you think you will never go again though.

Is there one at Sitges? Prob too common an area for the friend.

Tell her to go the Barcelona Cathedral then and you can visit Sagrada and she can return if and when she wants to.

Either way I would go without her barcelona is lovely and is on a short list of places I would return back to!

She's a complete idiot

BTW if she likes cathedrals and you are in Barcelona you can catch the fast train to Girona, takes 40 minutes (cost about 20 euros each return) there is a beautiful (completed) cathedral in Girona

Went there late last year and even on a dull day the light inside was breathtakingly beautiful. Your friend is missing out by not wanting to visit.

We went up one of the towers (lift up and stairs down) and it was interesting to see them working onsite.

She sounds clueless but if she really doesn't want to go just go by yourself and then both go and look at Casa Mila, Casa Batllo and the park etc together. It's only one of the many places to see in Barcelona.

It's not really a building site anyway but if she's not comfortable with going let her go to see the other sites in Barcelona while you go and have a look.

Also please check in with her and make sure that's not a excuse because she needs to back out for financial reasons for example.

You’re both unreal. Her, for being thick as mince. You for even entertaining her absolute lunacy.

She will be a long time dead if she wants to wait until it is completed.

Cathedrals take decades to build.

La Sagrada Familia is one of the cathedrals I'd most like to visit, too - I have had to content myself with online visits, and even through pictures and partially completed, it is MAGNIFICENT!

I would go. She can sit in a cafe and wait for you. She's being stupid!

Edit for spelling