We spent most of Saturday at a high altitude. We took a cable car from La Playa de Barconaleta over the Port of Barcelona to midway up the majestic Montjuic which overlooks the city and the Port. From there we hiked a bit up to another cable car to take us to the top of the mountain to La Castell de Montjuic, a commanding military fortress at the very top of the mountain that commanded a dominating presence over the city and the port. What a site this was to see completely outfitted with heavy artillery and some seriously fortified walls. Any opposing military trying to take Barcelona from the sea would have a very hard time getting through the blow this installation could bring!
Heading down the mountain on the other side was the impressive Olympic complex from the 1992 Summer Olympic games complete with la Estadi de Olympic (Olympic Stadium) as well as various other sporting venues for sports such as basketball, baseball, swimming, gymnastics, etc… One could not help but be in astonishment at this complex built into the side of a mountain with such sprawling and magnificent scenary. From there we worked are way down to Placa de Espanya taking in the sites of the National Art Museum of Catalunya and the Font de Montjuic (a huge fountain). However, we have to return there in the evening as we have been told of its picturesque. We then went to check out a soccer game taking place at Camp Nou (Barcelona’s main futbol stadium seating over 120,000 people) where a match between Catalunya and Argentina was taking place. However, we decided not to go in because the cheapest ticket was €30, money we felt we could spend when the main team, FC Barcelona, was playing. We then headed back for our naps, and I headed out again this time for Las Ramblas. There wasn’t much going for me this evening so I decided to call it an early night (in Spanish standards).
It rained most of Sunday, but Javier and I did go to the Maritime Museum of Barcelona which was quite nice. We, also, had planned on going to the big bullfight that night, but it was canceled, we suspect due to the weather. There were some good things that did come out of Sunday. I booked a 3 night trip to Rome in June and a 2 night trip to Lisbon, Portugal in July. So, I look forward to some more great fun on this side of the pond (Atlantic Ocean). And we will certainly heed to the common saying, “While in Rome, do as the Romans do!”
And I have started another photo album, so to check the album out in full go to:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34042699&l=cd05b&id=18715815