Guide to Barcelona

Placa España

Mittwoch, den 15. September 2010 um 14:36 Uhr

In and Around Barcelona

Placa España is one of Barcelona`s most important squares, located in one of Barcelona`s most beautiful districts. The most important features of Placa España are the large fountain, the Venetian towers and Las arenas de Barcelona. At Placa España, there is always something going on, and you will definitely not getting bored.

Placa España
Placa España is a big square at the foot of Montjuïc hill. The place was formerly used for public executions until the gallows where moved to citadel in 1715. The most striking part of Placa España is the two large Venetian towers. The square was built on the occasion of the World exhibition in 1929, which was organized at the Montjuïc hill. The design was submitted by architect Josep Amargos, and was only narrowly finished on time for the final exhibition.

Venetian Towers
A broad avenue, Avenida de la Reina Maria Christina, is flanked by two towers and leads to the Magic Fountains in front of the National Palace in Montjuic. The lane is often used for holding trade fairs. The 47 meter high towers are modeled on the clock tower of San Marco Basilica in Venice. They were built by Ramon Raventós for the Universal Exhibition in 1929.

The large Fountain
Another architect, called Josep Maria Jujol, designed a large Fountain in the middle of the square. The modernist style of the Fountain is clearly influenced by Gaudí , with whom Jujol worked together several times on projects such as Casa Mila and Parc Güell.  The statues that decorating the Fountain were designed by the Spanish sculptor Miguel Blay Fabregas, who was the 3th person involved in the project.

Las Arenas de Barcelona
On the other side at one of the corners of the square are the "Arenas de Barcelona ' located. The arena was built in 1900 to hold bullfights. The building was designed in the Mudejar style, a style that found its origin in the Moors. Typical of the style is the use of colorful bricks.
Bullfighting never really pitched in Catalonia and in 2011 the arena was transformed into a totally new modernized shopping center. From Las Arenas you have an amazing view over Montjuïc while enjoying dinner in one of the restaurants on the top of Las Arenas.

Transport
From Placa España is in addition to all these interesting facts above one of Barcelona`s most important transport points, both above and underground. That means that it is not only a bus station but also a metro and railway station. The Barcelona metro line in Barcelona, known as Gran Metro, had Placa España as one of its destinations. Metro lines that pass Placa España are: L1, L3, L5 and L8.
Furthermore there are leaving plenty of buses from Placa España in all directions. For party animals there are even night busses available, which are known as Nitbus Barcelona and most of its lines serving Placa España.  

Finally there are driving shuttle busses between Placa España and Barcelona`s airport El Prat, the so-called Aero busses. These busses leave approximately every 10 minutes. For those who depart from Terminal 1, have to take the Aerobus 1 (A1), for those ones who depart from Terminal 2 have to take Aerobus 2 (A2).

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