Spain Day 3 - Montjuïc
Our original plan for Monday was to check out the Picasso museum in Barcelona, but we hadn't looked closely enough at the Internet to realize that many of the museums are actually closed on Mondays. Instead we went to see Montjuic, which is a hill in Barcelona atop which sits a fort/castle. There are all kinds of other cool sights on the hill as well, as it was the site of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and also houses an old royal palace that's now an art museum, and a number of gardens. It was really a beautiful day to walk around, and we enjoyed it very much.
Luckily, there is a cable car that takes you up the mountain to the castle, which was, in and of itself, a fun experience. Looking back over the city on the way up provided spectacular views. It was easy to see why fortifications were built on this hill to both protect and control the city (depending on which era of history you're examining).
The original castle dates back to about 1640, but was rebuilt in 1751. The biggest victory for the castle was during the Catalan Revolt in 1641. Although the Catalans won that battle, they ultimately lost the war and came under Spain's dominion again. It has also been used to fire on the city of Barcelona itself, and as a prison/center of torture. As such, it has a sort of controversial place in Barcelona society, but the museum there has been well designed to reflect and respect that fact.
After touring the castle we chose to walk down the hill and back towards the hotel. On the way down we stopped at the Olympic stadium, which was really cool. There is a complex of different Olympic arenas in the area, obviously, but the stadium we peeked into was the main track and field stadium, and held the olympic torch. They still hold events there and at the other Olympic venues, which is really nice as well.
We also saw the royal palace turned art museum (but it being Monday, couldn't actually go inside), and overall enjoyed the stroll back to the subway to get to the hotel. We stopped in the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, then rested a bit before tackling the city in the evening.
We were pretty wiped out from all the walking we had done in the morning and the days preceding, so we stayed close to the hotel in the evening. On a whim I looked to see if there were any game stores nearby, and as it turned out there were several! I couldn't believe how many board game stores there were, actually, and when we asked a clerk in one of them she said that this area was known as the "freak triangle".
We actually went into 3 game stores and an enormous comic book store, and saw at least one more game store and numerous comic book and collectible stores. It was amazingly cool, and the only thing that surprised me was that I didn't see anywhere selling yo-yos. We did pick up a card game called Castellers, which was designed by a local guy and included English instructions.
Luckily, there is a cable car that takes you up the mountain to the castle, which was, in and of itself, a fun experience. Looking back over the city on the way up provided spectacular views. It was easy to see why fortifications were built on this hill to both protect and control the city (depending on which era of history you're examining).
The original castle dates back to about 1640, but was rebuilt in 1751. The biggest victory for the castle was during the Catalan Revolt in 1641. Although the Catalans won that battle, they ultimately lost the war and came under Spain's dominion again. It has also been used to fire on the city of Barcelona itself, and as a prison/center of torture. As such, it has a sort of controversial place in Barcelona society, but the museum there has been well designed to reflect and respect that fact.
After touring the castle we chose to walk down the hill and back towards the hotel. On the way down we stopped at the Olympic stadium, which was really cool. There is a complex of different Olympic arenas in the area, obviously, but the stadium we peeked into was the main track and field stadium, and held the olympic torch. They still hold events there and at the other Olympic venues, which is really nice as well.
We also saw the royal palace turned art museum (but it being Monday, couldn't actually go inside), and overall enjoyed the stroll back to the subway to get to the hotel. We stopped in the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, then rested a bit before tackling the city in the evening.
We were pretty wiped out from all the walking we had done in the morning and the days preceding, so we stayed close to the hotel in the evening. On a whim I looked to see if there were any game stores nearby, and as it turned out there were several! I couldn't believe how many board game stores there were, actually, and when we asked a clerk in one of them she said that this area was known as the "freak triangle".
We actually went into 3 game stores and an enormous comic book store, and saw at least one more game store and numerous comic book and collectible stores. It was amazingly cool, and the only thing that surprised me was that I didn't see anywhere selling yo-yos. We did pick up a card game called Castellers, which was designed by a local guy and included English instructions.
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