What to explore in Barcelona Spain
As any European can brag about, Barcelona in
Spain is no exception with its endless history, much of it
still remaining, but much more of it has been added on in the
20th century. In many people´s opinion, you fully
appreciate what Catalunya ( four regions including Barcelona )
is all about if you concentrate on the newly added culture.
Barcelona has been a busy city and with all the new activities
that it is willing to take on, tourism has become a big part of
its daily life. So, for a full-scale visit to squeeze every drop
of pleasure out of it, be well prepared with your map which has
a details on hotels, entertainment, and the best celebrations
and latest exhibitions.
Pick one’s way in
Barcelona
The place to set out from to find your first glimpse of
Modernism would be to go straight to Guell Park. This natural
space should really have been called Antonio Gaudi Park because
it is entirely filled with this architecture´s
spellbinding works. He has converted benches, balconies, walls
and entire buildings into paintings. Once you have filled your
camera with these delights, recharge it again for Gaudi´s
highlight; the Sagrada Familia Church. Even though at first
sight the Sagrada Familia has an antiquated look, it was started
in 1883 and has been growing all during this century, getting
special modern touch-ups and new addition.
In 1892 the Barcelona Zoo was founded. A private collection was
donated to the city and as the centre of the city was in the
port area called La Ciutat Vella ( beautiful city), the zoo is
found in the Ciutadella Park. This fascinating place, houses
more than 7,500 different types of animals. The tiny hippo pygmy
or odd looking anteater is a big attraction for the wee folks
and adults alike. The Barcelona Zoo takes much pride of its
primates collection which at one time included and albino one.
Dark grey coloured shell tortoises, pelicans and American
buffalos and even a red kangaroo can be photographed up close
without having to travel to distant lands. The weather in
Cataluyna and especially in Barcelona is not extreme, so a
casual visit to see your animal friends can be done all year
round. If your travel happens to take you to this city in the
warmer months, Aquarama Barcelona, the aquatic park within the
zoo will add to your zoo visit. Everyone is awed by the
bottlenose dolphins seen at the daily shows together with other
marvellous aquatic animals. The Barcelona Zoo excellent research
programme is worldly known for breeding in captivity and for
preserving species in danger.
Las Ramblas promenade is the heart of the
Ciutat Vella and of Barcelona
Everyone who visits this city has recognized it as one of the
most lively and colourful street shows, It is a living street
garden with its decorative floral patterns with one of the best
food markets in the city nearby called the Boqueria . With the
Olympic games in 1992, the old run-down port area was
surprisingly made into the Coastal Park where the Olympic
village was stationed. At the Arts Hotel, Mapfre Towers and Nova
Icaria Square you can find the twin towers which easily marked
the whole area where this magnificent event was held and can
still be visited. Once again in 2004, this Oylmpic stadium and
its ´Cobi´ mascot saw the Olympic torch before it
was sent on to the 2004 host, Greece. Also in 2004, Barcelona
once again out did itself, by setting up the Barcelona Forum,
welcoming traveller from all over the world.
You may be thinking that all this tourism needs a lot of special
attention, especially in making travel to and from this great
city a breeze. Well, they have achieved this and much more. The
Barcelona Airport called The Prat is found on the
outskirts but has many good public and private transport to get
into the hub of the city. And if you are thinking about heading
about 40 kilometres south to maybe the town of Sitges, a nice
beach area on the costa, then there are local trains too. You
have many buses right outside the terminals, the underground,
taxis and many hotels offer comfortable mini-buses directly to
your accomodations and to the open doors of Barcelona.