The Barcelona Olympics in 1992 were held up on Montjüic Mountain and around. This is where the main Olympic Installations are and today the Olympic Stadium holds RCD Espanyol’s home games – at least until their new Stadium gets built (it started this year). Perhaps one of the best memories of the Olympic Diving in 1992 was the amazing backdrop provided by the outdoor diving boards. This gave a panoramic view of Barcelona looking all the way across the old town, and capturing the metropolis that is Barcelona. One of the city’s best restaurants, El Xalet, is just next door, and offers unbeatable views whilst dining on some of the best Barcelona cuisine. Visitors today can’t access the boards, but can take the city’s Cable car ride, which has been recently renovated (January 2008) and takes you all the way to the peak of Montjüic where the castle still stands, complete with cannons pointing out to sea. There used to be a military museum, too, but this has now been scrapped (you weren’t missing much, don’t worry). The view from the Castle gives some amazing views of the workings of Barcelona – remember it’s an affluent Port and almost all cruise lines dock in the Catalan Capital, too. Following the road around Montjüic you can reach the MiraMar (Sea look out – roughly translated) and another cable car treats you to some breathtaking views of Montjüic from behind, as you sail over the cruise ships (often with many people sunbathing on decks or swimming in the on board pools), and cross over the middle tower continuing to Barceloneta’s beach.
One of the emblematic statues of Barcelona stands at the bottom of its most famous street, Las Ramblas, where Christopher Columbus (who some say was Catalan) stands aloft pointing out to Las Americas. This is also a good viewpoint for those interested in seeing Las Ramblas from a height. It’s not as high as the views reached from the cable cars, but still gives a nice view from the lift up, and the observation deck also looks down towards Port Vell (old Port) and the Maremagnum leisure complex. You can also see right at the back, the other mountain of Barcelona – Tibidabo.
