A Trip down Olympic memory lane.

Clearly I am writing this a bit late, but I wanted to share some photos from Barcelona before we left for the south of Spain as well as a few stories from the days. I’ll write the dates too, so you have an idea of when they took place since obviously I wont be post-dating my blog entries now.

September 28

This was a Sunday which makes finding things to do in Barcelona a challenge as most everything is closed. A lot of the museums ARE open but you have to get there early as they close up around 2pm or you have to do your research and find the places that are open later. We decided to spend the majority of the afternoon wandering around Montjuic and stopping in the one museum that was open that we got to on time. We climbed up and up and wandered through these lovely gardens they have a little ways up from MNAC (Museo National Art of Catalunya). After sweeping through the garden we found ourselves in the Olympic area which was pretty interesting and strange at the same time.

The Olympic part of Montjuic has a few huge stadiums, sculptures, a soccer field, wide open areas with beautiful views of the city below. For me it was amazing to set foot on an area where thousands of Olympic athletes had been 16 years ago (Barcelona hosted the Olympics in 1992) but at the same time slightly like walking into a ghost town. These huge structures had been erected in a mountain that used to just have grass really, used for about 8 weeks, and then completely abandoned only to be walked over by tourists and the occasional soccer fan when the stadium hosted a few games during the league’s season. Of all of the history I have learned about Barcelona, one thing that has really stood out is that Barcelona is one city that is used as an example when talking about the advantages that can come from hosting an Olympics; the way it changed this city by the waterfront and Montjuic and really cleaned up those areas has paved the way for more and more tourists to come to this city every year and thus bring an economic boom to the area.