Next stop on our 3rd day’s journey was a ride on “Teleferic de Montjuic”, a very short and expensive ride on a cable car that brings you up Mount Montjuïc, which means Mount of the Jews. Costing us a total of 4 Euro’s after discount, we were disappointed on how short the ride was, but once we got up the hill and saw the old Castle, it made up for it.

Montjuïc is translated as Hill of the Jews in the medieval Catalan language, or perhaps as a corruption of Latin Mons Jovicus (that is, hill of Jupiter). The name is found in several locations in the Catalan Countries: the Catalan cities of Girona and Barcelona have a Montjuïc, as does the island of Minorca. When written in a Spanish rather than Catalan context it is generally spelled Montjuich (in the old Catalan spelling before Pompeu Fabra’s orthography). Barcelona’s Montjuïc is a broad shallow hill with a relatively flat top overlooking the harbour, to the southeast of the city centre. The eastern side of the hill is almost a sheer cliff, giving it a commanding view over the city’s harbour immediately below. The top of the hill (a height of 173 metres) was the site of several fortifications, the latest of which (the Castell de Montjuïc) remains today. The fortress largely dates from the 17th century, with 18th century additions. In 1842 the garrison (loyal to the Madrid government) shelled parts of the city following disturbances. It served as a prison, often holding political prisoners, until the time of General Franco. The castle was the site of numerous executions.

This place boasts the best view of Barcelona and also a view of the Mediterranean sea. We sat up on the wall, took photo’s had an ice cream and basically just enjoyed the breeze and view.

On this day in History..

• A Walk to Remember - 2003
• Animal Kingdom... - 2005
• Singapore here I come... - 2005
• Mongolian Colours Fly Proud... - 2005
• Guest Blogger #6 :- Bermuda is not a Triangle - 2005
• The Doctor told me to shut up... - 2005
• The Departed - 2006
• Mongolian Model Murder :- Request for Altantuya’s remains turned down - 2006
• Woke up to a snowy day... - 2006
• Another baby enters the world :) - 2006
• Saigon Secrets : Water Lily - 2007
• Saigon Secrets : Thảo Cầm Viên Sài Gòn - 2007
• What flower is this? - 2007

Tags: barcelona, Montjuïc Castle, spain, Travel

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.