Montjuic is one the outskirts of the city and is the highest point in Barcelona, providing views over the city and the Mediterranean Sea. It’s quiet early on a Sunday morning, although the queues for the cable car were growing quickly. We opted for the Metro and Funicular, and then to walk the remaining kilometre uphill. The morning was hazy and it’s difficult to see above the trees, nevertheless, Sagrada Familia completely dominates the city landscape.
Montjuic was the site of the swimming and diving for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, providing amazing views for the 10m platform coverage. The pool is still there and opens from May to October, and the whole area still attracts tourists with the Castle at the top. The garden, roads and viewing ponts aren’t well-maintained. On the one hand it’s sad to see, on the other hand it shows that maybe Barcelona has just had to prioritise other things.
We headed out to the Sagrada Familia area to explore, and found the surrounding parks and streets packed with people enjoying Sunday afternoon entertainment. The human towers captivate everyone, with tiny children scampering up to the top. Human engineering at it’s best… not for the faint hearted!
Somewhere in the crowd we managed to find our targets… my aunt and uncle, Kate and Jeff, who hopped over from Derby to share a couple of days in Barcelona with us. A beautiful opportunity to bring together people we love in a fabulous country. My visit to Barcelona with Mum in 2024 helped me understand why Rachel had fallen in love with Spain.
The main road had been taken over by a street market, with plenty of people out enjoying a few drinks in the sunshine. Australia does ‘big’ things, yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen a barbeque or a pot of octopus quite like this before!
Park Guell sits on top of the hill behind Barcelona. It’s a complex of parks and gardens designed by Gaudi and constructed between 1900 and 1914. It was originally inspired by English parks and intended to be a residential development of 60 homes, however only 2 were ever built.
The viaducts at the upper end of the park are intriguing and functional. They provide roads above, shade below, and retaining wall for the slope. Their tree-like form and natural melds into the environment, while also standing out. Uniquely Gaudi.
They views across Barcelona are fabulous from this point. Today’s blue sky was the perfect backdrop for Gaudi’s work, although I suspect in brings light and colour to even the dreariest of days.
It’s the large scale and the tiny details of Gaudi’s work that make it so unique. Massive mosaics of tiny tiles create stunning patterns that bring light and colour to walls, sills, and ceilings. The ceiling of the Hypostyle Room, designed to be the marketplace, features hundreds of domes with original mosaics of tile-shards made by one of Gaudi’s assistants. It’s impossible to fathom the time and thought that would have gone into creating this place.
The Carrer d’Olot entrance provides view up the Dragon Stairway to the Hypostyle Room with it’s 86 striated columns. The ‘Dragon’ is the salamander covered with the tile-mosaic which has become one of the most iconic features of the park. He’s very cute, and very photographed!
Dinner in a quirky local restaurant uncovered rhubarb! It takes me back to days in the garden at my Grandparents house in Nuthall, rhubarb and apple crumble, and childhood memories in the UK. Never imagined I’d find it as a soft drink in Spain!
On the day that woulda, coulda, shoulda been the London Marathon I raise a glass to the journey we’ve been on, and how fortunate I feel at this moment. What a marathon it’s been.
Love M & A x
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