Montjuïc

On the southern side of the city and sloping steeply down to the sea rises Montjuïc (213m/700ft). Montjuic is a mountain inside the city. A true bowl of air. You will have access to a splendid sight of Barcelona from all sides. The hillsides are covered with flowers. Exotic trees and giant cactus. Crowned by a fortress built on its summit, it is the most extensive and most frequented recreational area within the city boundaries and repays an extended visit not just for its scenic beauty with its rich vegetation and large parks, but also because of its museums and amusement park.

As you enter Montjuïc from Plaça d'Espanya, you will walk through 2 very impressive towers. These twin Venetian-style towers formed the main entrance to the Universal Exposition of 1929. The whole of the summit area of Montjuïc is occupied by the extensive buildings and grounds which make up the Castell de Montjuïc (fortress). From the corner bastions in particular, the visitor has a panoramic view across the whole of the metropolis. On the west side stands an ornate memorial to Francisco Franco, which is gradually becoming dilapidated and in the moat there is an archery ground. In the whole fortress site there are several large-caliber guns which command the whole of the port area. It is well worth taking a walk round the flat roof of the citadel. From there you can see a complete panorama over the sea, port, city and mountains.

In Montjuic you can find the National Museum of Catalan Art, which has an impressive collection of Romanesque art. The Castell de Montjuic, and the Olympic Stadium. Montjuic was also called the Hill of the Jews after a Jewish necropolis there. You will see the Castell de Montjuic, and the Olympic Stadium and the Anella Olímpica (Olympic Ring) is the group of sports installations where the main events of the 1992 games were held.. The Olympic Games, held in 1992 transformed the resort in a futuristic way. The splendid esplanade with its modern sculptures and art pieces by Miyawaki and Calatrava looks like a desolate scene from some kind of Sci-Fi movie.

Before you go and see all this, don’t forget to plan your trip in advance. Determine what kind of accommodation you are interested in staying in. Hostels, budget hotels, private rooms, dorm rooms. Are you more comfortable with a reservation or just winging it? I definitely recommend a reservation in the high season or if you are planning on staying in some Barcelona hotels or a private room. Consider whether you are OK with trekking around town with a heavy pack, looking for a place to stay. If you don't have much time, it's not worth it. If you prepare all this things, you will have more time to visit beautiful sightseeing of Barcelona, and it has a lot of them!

One of the stops of the cable-car that takes you to Castell de Montjuïc you can see La Sardana Circus in Montjuï, where typical Catalan dance "La Sardana" has its own monument and from there you can enjoy an awesome of Barcelona.

Stretching up a series of terraces below the Palau Nacional are fountains, including the biggest, La Font Màgica, which comes alive with a free lights and music show on summer evenings. The magic fountain is a "must see" when you come to Barcelona and highly recommended. The magic fountain of Montjuïc's first performance was on May 19, 1929 during the Great Universal Exhibition. The designer Carles Buigas submitted his plans one year before the exhibition and many thought that the project was too ambitious to be created, let alone completed on time. The magic fountain is a spectacular display of colour, light, motion, music and water acrobatics - if you mix all these elements together in just the right combinations, you end up with pure magic!

In the northwest of Montjuic is the 'Spanish Village', Poble Espanyol. At first glance it's a tacky tourist trap, but it also proves to be an intriguing scrapbook of Spanish architecture, with very convincing copies of buildings from all of Spain's regions.

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