The Adventures of Julie & Michelle - Take 1... Montjuic

My first visitor arrived on Thursday, much to my excitement!  We've been here for 6 months now and it's so nice to have someone from home to spend time with, and even better, it's my BFF!!  Michelle was obviously jetlagged on Thursday but on Friday I arranged for Alefiya to watch the boys so we could spend the day together.

We decided to head for Montjuic, a mountain that borders Barcelona on the southern side.  It's an area that I have been wanting to visit but hadn't yet made it over to.  So it made perfect sense to me that we explore it together. 

We entered Montjuic off Gran Via near the Magic Fountain (which unfortunately is only on at night - a sight I still haven't seen but I hear it is like the Bellagio fountain in Vegas...but smaller).  Talk about stairs!  Stairs as far as the eye can see!  And it's hot out!  But wait...there is an escalator!  Whew!!  Yes, for all my daily walking, that doesn't mean I want to climb flights upon flights of stairs in 80 degree heat!

The first thing we saw was the Museum of Art.  A beautiful building on the outside, however, we did not venture in, figuring we'd head over later.  Unfortunately we didn't end up making it back there but it just means something to do another day!  We did get to see the setup for a lot of where the 1992 Olympics took place and that was very cool.  And we also spent some time at the botanical gardens.  The whole time we were there I was in awe of all the vegetation around me - so different from being in the city proper even though we were still within the boundries of the city. 

Views of and around the art museum

Part of where the 1992 Opening Ceremonies were held for the Olympics

Castle in the background!

Botanical Gardens

On our way to the Teleferic we saw this diving competition which was pretty cool.  We actually saw a few kids Aidan's age that were amazing!

One of the Teleferics coming down from the castle.  We took the one going from the mountain to Barceloneta Beach.

Since it was getting close to lunchtime we decided to head down the mountain towards the water.  What is the best way to get to the water quickly?  Well by Teleferic of course!  The Teleferic is like a ski gondola, only it goes up the mountain and over the Mediterranean.  Not being a big fan of heights, this was a BIG leap of faith on my part.  And I pretty much just focused on taking pictures rather than "enjoying" the ride, but it was an adventure just the same!

View from the Teleferic on Montjuic.  The tower ahead by the cruise ship is our mid-way point.

View as we are getting on the Teleferic to our left - heading towards Villa Olimpica

Getting closer to the ship and midway

God we are high up!!

We could see people way below on the cruise ship!

Dude, how are we going to fit thru that little tiny hole on the left of this thing?

Ahhhhh getting closer!!!  There is no way we are fitting thru that!  Can you see how high up we are from the view on the other side?

And out we come to the other side - now we head to the next / final tower which is by Barceloneta Beach.  Shit this is high up!!

View out the window to the left

Once again getting closer, but the opening seems bigger this time...whew!

And we made it!  View looking across to Montjuic where we had come from!

All in all, we had an absolutely fantastic day catching up and exploring some new parts of the city.  My understanding is that this is a mountain that takes several trips to see everything.  And I have a list of things I want to do the next time I head up that way, including finding the slides that a friend of mine said will actually take you back down the mountain as well the next time I go back.  I think that will be a LOT easier than taking the Teleferic and a whole lot closer to the ground!

Julie