Friday, September 6, 2013

Magically Montjuic, Barcelona

Barcelona, too, has its own version of magic fountain as in Prague.

Montjuic is actually strategically located in the city centre. Take a bus or train or metro to Placa de Espanya and from there, you could start discovering a handful of tourist spots already. They are all within walking distance.

One that you definitely shall not miss is the Montjuic fountain. As in most scenic spots, we would go there during the day and night.

Around the fountain, there is a park which you could spend a good number of hours walking and taking a peek what is there to offer. The park is situated uphill. If you are not a fan of walking, there are buses that brings tourists up and down hill at certain intervals. Do check out the bus schedule when you plan your trip, if you intend to take the bus.


Plenty of places to explore! It is indeed a huge park.

Expect to spend about a day here should you keen to visit the museum and enter into all the castles and historical buildings in the park.

We both are not particularly interested in museums (unless exceptional ones). So, we skipped that.
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya or known as MNAC.
MNAC in the twilight.

During the day, some parts of the park were surprisingly quiet but the MNAC was obviously not. There were many tourists buses lining along the streets in front of the building.

As the sky was getting darker, we slowly made our way towards the Montjuic Magic Fountain. Couples and keen photographers had already picked a fine spot and had already prepared themselves for the magical moment.
We did the same.

In fact, there were many different spots or rather different altitude of height in which you could capture the view. The best is actually when the fountain is at the same level as your eye (or just slightly higher) because if you are taking the picture from the spot near MNAC (the top), you might risk having four strong pillars in your way, like below. It would be perfect if you are standing at the space between the pillars and the fountain.

If you would like to impress your partner and do not mind about any form of budget, you may also book a table for two in the restaurant across the fountain. Otherwise, you could sit along the stretch of stairs and wait for the magical moment dancing to life. In the meantime, you may also get some souvenirs in the booths or stalls there.
When there are spikes of blue lights shooting up into the sky from behind the MNAC, you know it is about to start. You can hear the deafening music and see the lightings from the busy square of Placa De Espanya.
A few shots on the magical fountain in action.
After a while, just stop taking pictures and seize the moment before you. Nothing beats what you witness with the naked eye. Anyway, it will be overly crowded and it gets annoying to setup tripod when the fountain show intensifies.

When the magical spell disappeared into the thin air, silence enveloped the space. As if everyone wasn't ready to get back to reality, people still lingered around for a while, hoping the spell would cast upon them again. 

Alas, it didn't happen.

But do not despair. In a mere 30 minutes wait, you would be enchanted once again.
Schedules of the show and opening hours can be found here.

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