Barcelona: the city which is definitely worth to be visited once again.
What do you imagine, when hearing just one word Barcelona? To the majority of music admirers the duet of Freddy Mercury and Montserrat Caballé will be recollected, fans of sports will, probably, think of Summer Olympic Games of 1992, judges of applied art for sure will recover in memory images of works of Goudy, Picasso and Dalí, who lived and worked here. The main city of Catalonia - the richest of the Spanish provinces, - Barcelona can brag of the rich history in which for many times will sound eminent figures and fruits of their creativity. One of legends even attributes creation of the city to Heracles (400 years before the foundation of Rome!). In the first available sources this place was named Barcelino, in honour of Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca (3 c. B.C.).
In Barcelona there are lots of well-known and simply beautiful places; to get acquainted with all of them a usual tourist week lasting trip for certain will not suffice. A great help can be the good guide who will rescue you from a painful choice and map-search.
At the first meeting with Barcelona it is essential to see everything from above. At landing the plane does not land into the coastal waves and if you will be lucky enough, from height it is possible to see the well-known figure of houses of the central part of the city – the equal squares of old houses cut by the prospectus the Diagonal.
In my personal rating the main places have got:
- The cathedral of St. Eulalie – here you can plunge into the Middle Ages, pass along walls filled by candles. It is obligatory to look upward – because the high carved arches inherited from Gothic style cast ideas on something infinite and splendid; try to count the geese living in the internal court yard (the guide will say, that there are exactly thirteen of them, equal to the number of life years of the St. Eulalie’s – protectress of city); and feel the fragrance of incense in the air with which the cathedral got impregnated during the long years of its existence.
- Amusing Torre Agbar, which shines at night as a disco-skyscraper and can be seen from distance as the city does not abound in high buildings.
- The gorgeous "Magic fountain” - to look on which in the evenings gathers the unimaginable crowd which, truly speaking, does not impede to enjoy a unforgettable show at all; at the first chords of famous classical melodies the noise of the surrounding world simply ceases to exist.
- "The Aquarium of Barcelona" - the most significant oceanarium of Europe, - and adjoining it pedestrian "Rambla de Mar", mostly beautiful in sunset and night hours.
- Parc Guell, and eternal construction of the Sagrada Familia cathedral, which became the most famous creation of Gaudy. In general, Gaudy's architecture, benefits of which are disseminated all over the central part of Barcelona, deserves separate attention: the extravagantly-childish, grotesque and a little bit ridiculous at first sight, it amazes with its reasoning and indisputable greatness at the very first approximation. They say that in some houses he projected chairs so that it would be ideally comfortable to sit in. At this moment we recollect the guide’s words who did not recommend us "to get acquainted" with new facade of the cathedral (which has already been built after Gaudy and not after his drafts), repeating continuously: "Gaudy was the genius, and the one who built it after him – forgive me, a simple idiot …"
- It is necessary to spare some hours to go the Montserrat mountain and to visit the cathedral of the same name. In the cathedral it is possible to come inside an internal court yard and, having turned round on one leg for three times, to think of the most cherished desire. The desire can as well be thought at the figure of the Black Madonna, holding on to the gold apple in its hand
On leaving the territory of the cathedral I would recommend you to come into a small cafe and drink a cup of flavored coffee, or simply glass of hot milk – both will be very tasty.
Last feature for the acquaintance can as well be visiting the sight platform on Monjuic hill – to look over Barcelona once again from above, to envy yourself that you have managed to see this miracle and understand that it is absolutely necessary to come here once again. There is always something that is necessarily worth seeing next time.
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