Climbing to the Montjuic Castle

On one of our most active outdoor days in Barcelona my mom and I decided to climb Montjuïc. Translated from medieval Catalan as “Jew Mountain” it is the site, on the southwest side of the city center, of the famous Jewish cemetery and we went exploring.  After a very busy morning at the beautiful Palau Güell mansion with the prettiest chimneys we set out on our journey and yes, I was wearing a dress.

We had planned to see the MUHBA – Refugi 307 , the Spanish Civil War Bomb Shelter, on our way up the mountain but it was closed to the public so we grabbed sandwiches and kept going up.  Many friends suggested we take the funicular as it was a long trek from the center of the city but it was a scenic climb that we enjoyed. Once we got to the relatively flat mountain top I was expecting the Montjuic Castle to be only pretty photo opp but with a 8 euro combined admission we decided to head into the old military fortress.  It was an interesting castle – first as a small fort in the Catalan revolt and subsequently a fortress during the war of the Spanish succession. There was no formal tour or audio guide so we wandered around, peering over every wall and reading all of the plaques.  My favorite informed us that the first written record of the castle was from 1073 where it was first documented as a light house and the United States would not be a country for another 700 years. #perspective

From the castle we climbed down the hill through the  Parc de Montjuïc to the towards  Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya and Plaza Espanya. It was a windy trek down but as you can see from the photos it was a gorgeous day. 

After the long trek we eventually ended up at the top of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, the famous art museum. After all of the history and tours we had seen and been on in the previous five days including the Walking Tour of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, our day trip Hiking in Montserrat, the visits to the Basilica and Cathedral,  our tour of the The Picasso Museum and a Local Fair, the trip to the Palau Güell mansion, and our afternoon at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia we had decided it was okay to skip going inside and instead enjoyed the water fountain and people watching.

Would you want to visit Montjuic Castle?