Barcelona from the mountain of Montjuic

Montjuic is a mountain that has fabulous views of the city and the sea. In addition to a fortress at the top, there are also museums, gardens, and Olympic venues from the '92 games. In the 17th century the fortress was in use. There is a lot of history on the hill, but after being in a big city, I love to go for the views.. (click to enlarge!)

view to the north

It's not often the skies are this clear

Part of the military museum, where there are guns, spears, rapiers, crossbows, etc. from the 16th century and after.

Sailboat regatta! Cannons!

The port, which is waiting for my yachts to enter. Only a few more years...

It was a cold day, which meant there were very few tourists.

artillery in the garden. of course!

THAT thing... is called Agbar tower. We all laugh at it. But look behind it.. snowy mountains!

Castle cats!

A bit of architecture

Barcelona is a city filled with diverse architecture. Since it´s got thousands of years of history and multiple cultures contributing, there are some interesting things to see. Here´s just a bit of what you can see in a day.

Detail of a church in the Born district.

and again

Hm I think I was about to say something.. oh wait this isn´t about me!

Arc de Triomf in Barcelona. Better picture next time..

blech. new and very expensive apartment complex called the Windsor. It overlooks the med sea. At least it has a cool cafe in the bottom floor.

These apartments are NEW and so nice looking. This picture doesn´t do them justice.

As you can see, most of the pictures we have have been very overcast. It´s been raining almost every day we´ve been here and is supposed to continue for another half a week or so. :(

Hopefully we will get to use our Eurail train passes to go to northern Italy or southern France very soon. It´s raining in these places too for another week!

Barcelona is filled with firecracker explosions right now. I think what is happening is that a festival is coming up at the end of the month, so they´re already selling explosives for that day. Since there is no school today, all the kids are out blowing things up! The problem is that they aren´t the fancy 4th of July style ones with fun colors and movements, they´re just... explosives. Being in a big city where it´s all apartments, the sounds echo and amplify off of the cement and brick walls. punk kids. I should throw my leftover cooking oil out the window and onto them.

FYI: if you want to see more of Barcelona in photos, here´s a link: http://barcelona.photobloggers.org/2007/05/26/shoot-barcelona/