Barcelona - Parc de la Ciutadella (Park series 1)

This is my favourite park in Barcelona. It has lots of space to put your blanket down and enjoy the sun, there are lots of interesting buildings, lots of activities and lots of things to explore. Let’s look at these in detail.

Lots of space to put your blanket down

I was surprised to discover that this is not true of all the parks. For example in Parc Guell, it is not possible to do this as it is on the side of a hill so there are no flat bits. Even in the Parc Joan Miro, there are lots of benches all around but no grassy bits. Ciutadella has plenty of grass to enjoy.

Lots of interesting buildings

Unfortunately I don’t know what the purpose of the buildings is as even though there is a little description about them it’s in Catalan, not even in Spanish so the chances of understanding them is small. My favourite nevertheless is the House of the Tree Dragons. It is a very cool looking building and it makes me wonder how it got its name.

Lots of activities

The park is full of wide paths so people can stroll, run or cycle around, with green bits in the middle and on the side where there are usually classes held, for example yoga or zumba. Both the locals and tourists like this park so you can hear many different languages during a walk.

Lots of things to explore

There is a little lake where you can hire a boat and it’s full of ducks.

There are little fountains with white statues, some of them secluded from the rest of the park.

The Barcelona Zoo can also be found here. I’ve never been inside as I don’t like zoos as a principle but there’s a big climbable mammoth not far from the entrance that always has people trying to get on it. Apparently there’s a steel cat somewhere as well but I haven’t seen that one yet.

And of course the fountain, the Cascada, the pride of the park. It’s just simply amazing. It was commissioned by Josep Fontsère and he was assisted by Gaudi, who was a student at that time. It is full of fantastic creatures, they are all white and on the top there’s a golden chariot pulled by four horses. It’s all very grand and imaginative. I never fail to be impressed by it. My favourites are the dragons at the front.

It’s a very lovely park. If you’ve had enough of the hustle and bustle of the city, just come here and relax. It’s on the Av. del Marquès de l'Argentera. Don’t forget to look out for the wild parrots!