Montjuic & Poblesec Tour

It’s not just the very centre of Barcelona that tells its story. The nearby hill of Montjuic and the neighbouring district of Poble-sec provide a distillation of the architectural developments of the last 100 years, the recent history of the city, and how a once working-class neighbourhood becomes home to newcomers and begins the path towards gentrification. Not to mention a wander through one of the city’s “green lungs”, with its maze of woods and more formal gardens, to provide a natural counterpoint to all this urbanity.

The tour will kick off at Las Arenas, a former bullring now converted into a shopping mall by architect Richard Rogers and then take in emblematic buildings such as the CaixaForum cultural centre space, housed in a modernista former tile factory, the stark Bauhaus minimalism of Mies van de Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, the MNAC, the National Art Museum Catalonia, and the Joan Miró Foundation. From artisanal intricacy to modern architecture, by way of Neo-Classicism grandeur and Bauhaus “less is more”. Note that whilst the focus of the tour is the buildings themselves, and how they reflect the history of Barcelona: although we’ll be taking a crafty peek inside some, we won’t be visiting the exhibitions: we’re sure you’re quite capable of doing that for yourselves, being the independent-minded groovers that you are!

On the way, we’ll also take in the gardens and green spaces of Montjuic hill, this haven of peace amongst the urban sprawl.

Then, it’ll be time to descend a little to the Poblesec district of the city, a micro-metaphor for what has happened to Barcelona as a whole: once a working-class district, it is now gradually being gentrified, with cool co-working spaces, groovy bars and restaurants (we might be persuaded to take advantage of the former for a moment…), chic hotels and, inevitably, the resulting rising housing prices, leading to a change in the makeup of its inhabitants. It even boasts its very own mini-Rambla, crowded with terraced thronged by local old-timer, Barcelona hipsters and the occasional tourist.




 

 

 

place

Meeting point:  at the glass lift (outside the building) of the shopping center Las Arenas, next to the metro pf Plaza espanya.  

 

time

On request

price

Standard: €30 per person for groups of 4 and more. For groups of less then four: €120 in total. Private tour possible as well. 

 

booking

Please phone during office hours or e-mail us as soon as possible- tours need to be booked in advance ; last  minute bookings are not always possible. The groups are limited to a maximum of ten. The tour can be given in English, Dutch , Spanish, French and Italian.