Barcelona is a city that gave the world great geniuses: Gaudi, Picasso, Dali, Montserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras. The land on which to this day live the descendants of medieval troubadours and proud Spanish grandees. A place where every stone is scorched by the hot sun and tempered with true Spanish pride. And, despite all the epithets, this ancient city takes in its embrace any traveler. Opens his secrets before him and whispers historical chants: the echoes of footsteps in the old city, the horns of cars, the songs of fountains and the wind clinging to the spiers of the cathedral of the Holy Family. Surrender to his call, plunge into the vibrant whirlpool of his life, become his part for a few days. Only so you can see its true shape. The sights of Barcelona can be compared to a multicolored mosaic. Pieces of all the same. But the picture, which will turn out at the very end, everyone has his own. Unrepeatable and beautiful. Filled with a special atmosphere, indomitable spirit of freedom, joy and a burning Catalan temperament. Attractions in Barcelona are great. If you believe the legends, the city was founded by the ancient Greek hero Hercules for 400 years before Rome. For such a long time, Barcelona has not lost a single gram of its historical and architectural heritage, carefully preserving the creations of masters of different eras.
Park Guell
If you do not know how to start acquaintance withBarcelona, follow our advice and start it with the creation of the great Gaudi, which became the symbol of the city. This is Park Guell, located in the suburbs of Barcelona. At the entrance to the park visitors are greeted by a huge dragon. The same dragon, which according to legend, St. George killed to protect the city. Guell is able to turn your worldview upside down. Buildings as if grow out of the earth. It seems that the earth wanted to decorate itself and independently grew small pavilions, sloping arches and even the famous bench on the observation deck, decorated with mosaic - so naturally and harmoniously they fit into the surrounding landscape. A well-known for the whole world hall of a hundred columns makes us remember our own insignificance and vulnerability.
Modernist quarter of Eixample
To the north of Plaça Catalunya is locatedQuarter of Eixample. The geometric alignment of the streets of this quarter is not typical of European architecture. Streets of the same width, intersecting each other at a right angle, divide the quarter into equal squares. If you look at it from a bird's eye view, it may seem that someone has caught a block in the network. But, despite this geometric correctness, the buildings here are not at all like faceless boxes. On the contrary, in Eixample you will see creations of just three great modernists. In the Quarter of Discord, Batlló House - Antonio Gaudi, Amatller House, the masterpiece of the architect Puig-i-Cadafalca and the House of Lleu-Moureur, created according to the project of Dumenek, stood opposite each other. Compare them among themselves - the occupation is useless. They have such a stunning impression that, looking at them, you can lose the gift of speech. If it seems to you that you have reached all possible limits of admiration, cross the street. It was here that Antonio Gaudi, in an attempt to outdo himself, built the Mil House. Overflowing forms, phantasmagoria and naturalness - these seemingly contradictory epithets were awarded to this building by architectural critics. At his footstep, Salvador Dali himself was dying with delight, and he was a specialist who knew a lot about all sorts of oddities.
Gothic Quarter
There are places in Barcelona where timetrapped, mothballed, forced to froze with a crystal ball at the junction of the two worlds. One of them is the Gothic quarter of the old city. It is here that the main attractions of Barcelona are located, dating back to the time of the birth of the city. Standing on the Plaza Nova square (this is the oldest square in Barcelona), you can forget that a car, television and the Internet was invented a long time ago, and a person has already visited the moon. There's a different time. A different life. Walking along the cobbled streets of the Gothic Quarter, where each building has a centuries-old history, you will find yourself at the Cathedral. Its construction stretched for two centuries. Just imagine how many architects had time to work on its creation. Apparently, it is for this reason in its silhouettes mixed directions of the Spanish and French Gothic. In the heart of the Cathedral there is a small courtyard. On the paths between the plants and well-groomed bushes, the geese of Saint Eulalia walk proudly, whose name is worn by the cathedral. The tangle of intricate streets of the Gothic quarter, as if through a labyrinth, leads you to an odd, at first glance, Grand Royal Palace. This structure fully reveals the meaning of the word combination - proud as a Catalan. Restrained, monumental beauty is characteristic of all architectural creations in the Gothic style. But it was in the royal palace that all this was elevated to an excellent degree and brought to the absolute.
Rambla - Arbat in the middle of Barcelona
Barcelona - attractions in this city,as you could see at every step - will become a little closer and clearer if you walk along the main street of the city - Rambla. After a bit of pressure from their historical authority of the alleys of the Gothic quarter, a walk through the Rambla will be a breath of fresh air. Frozen here and there living statues, mimes and stray musicians, sellers of flowers, birds, newspapers. The mood of the holiday falls on you, reflected from the walls of the main street, so that, without leaving, to escort the beautiful city as a magical guide. Small cafes in the open air, high plane trees, the smell of coffee and Spanish wine. Only here you can comprehend the incomprehensible, listening to the leisurely speech of the expressive and serene inhabitants of Barcelona.
Museum of National Art of Catalonia
Before you start your own climbingthis 173-meter-high hill of Montjuic, walk along the Plaza of Spain, after all, it is here that the National Museum of Art of Catalonia is located. The collection of works of art of the Romanica collected in it is considered the most complete in the world. Frescoes and paintings of wall paintings dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, a collection of wooden sculpture and painting on wood .... On the museum's expositions, one can study the development of the art of the Mediterranean. The National Museum has canvases of famous masters: Jaime Hugo, Velázquez, El Greco and Luis Dalmau. And if you turned out to be few architectural works of the modernists, then among the exhibited paintings, they too have a whole exposition.
Magic Fountain
Barcelona can easily be called a city where inarchitecture is most widely represented by modernism. At the foot of Montjuic the Singing Fountain, designed by Gaudi's pupil Zhuzep Zhuzhol, grew up. Huge, an area of 3 thousand square meters and a height of jets of up to 50 meters, this futuristic giant throws tons of pure artesian water into the air, accompanied by musical masterpieces of composers of all eras. And if you want to see this masterpiece of modernism in all its glory, visit it in the evening. A magical spectacle awaits you: a musical light show on the falling fountain jets.
Climbing Montjuic
You can get to the hill of Montjuic in two ways: on a cable car and on foot, having made own ascension through historical epochs of a city. In the first case, you will lose the lion's share of pleasure, because to see the sights of Barcelona from a bird's eye view you can and from the observation deck at the top. But to visit the Spanish village, the museum where the main architectural masterpieces of the city are represented, see the ruins of the Apollo temple (the burial place of the carnival sardine) with your own eyes, breathe in the scent of flowering herbs - all this can be felt only having overcome all the way by yourself. A peculiar journey from the present to the past to see from the top of the hill to the proud beauty of Barcelona at your feet. We advise you to read: