Today we toured in a small group of just four of us with our own driver. It was so much easier than a big bus tour and he gave us a great insight into the local Catalan history as he drove us around the major sights of Barcelona in the morning then to Mont Serrat for the afternoon.
Our guide was fantastic! He explained the history of Barcelona from the beginning right through to the present day as we drove to each site. It was like watching a city grow as we drove. We are visiting the oldest section of the city again on Friday so I’ll leave those pics till then.
We visited the area that was redeveloped for the Barcelona Olympics and it was eye opening to hear just what a positive impact the Olympics has had on for the people living here. Green spaces where factories used to be, a beach area and the a huge redevelopment that has benefited the locals.
Barcelona now has a proper beach, with sand which is now a real tourist drawcard. The area along the beach is really lovely.
Lots of boats…
This area is near the Olympic stadium and has been turned into parks. Its high up and has views of the whole of Barcelona city from here, there is a cable car up to to the top
The walking areas are all paved with industrial, steampunk type patterns, probably with pieces from the factories that used to be in the area.
Bullfighting in Barcelona is illegal but occurs elsewhere in Spain. There are two bullfighting arenas In Barcelona that have been converted to shopping centres.
We saw so much more than this but not as many pics this morning as we were in the car. Once we had finished our tour around the city we headed off to Montserrat…