Inside one of the spires of Antoni Gaudi's
La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, Spain was one of the most terrifying and exhilarating places I've been.
Terrifying because:
1. Its dizzying 400 foot height
2. Its total lack of handrails or really
anything to grab onto that might keep you from falling right through the middle, all the way to the stone floor before. Actually, you'd never make it to the stone floor. You'd almost certainly catch a leg or something on the way down through the tiny hole and end up wedged there - where no stretcher could reach you.
Exhilarating because:
(see above)
Due to my lack of knowledge of the Spanish language, I didn't know I was supposed to take an
elevator to the top and only take the stairs
down. Consequently, I met a lot of other tourists coming down while I tried to go up a spiral staircase which was perhaps 30" across - from stone wall to stone wall. It was exhilarating! ...And did I mention terrifying?
