VISITING BARCELONA | |
 CITY TOURS SELECTION
The Port Vell (old port), at the end of Las Ramblas, was during centuries the main port of the city. Today the large harbour zone (of travellers and merchandises) extends towards the skirt of the mountain of Montjuïc in an immense complex where there are, for example, the World Trade Center, the Drassanes (shipyards), the Marine Museum and daily ferries to the Balearic Islands.
In the opposite direction the beaches of Barcelona begin.
Just in front of the statue of Columbus brights the extravagant lúdico and commercial complex of the Maremagnum.
The access is through a wooden footbridge on the sea. In parallel to this center, the Columbus Avenue advances towards the Via Laietana, where on the left, one finds the building of the Post Office and, on the right, in the heart of the avenue, the sculpture of the CAP de Barcelona (head of Barcelona), of the pop artist Roy Liechtenstein.
A few meters ahead, in parallel to the wharf, one finds the Museum of History of Catalonia and the Joan de Borbó Avenue. In this zone there are excellent restaurants of all price range in which the specialties of Fish and Sea food of the Catalan cuisine can be tasted. "El Merendero de la Mari", in the same building of the museum, is an excellent option.
Next to the Moll one finds the old district of the Born, that has been recuperated for the city in the last years like one of the most fashionable zones.
If one crosses Plaza Pau Vila (the one of the Museum of History of Catalonia) he is in front of the Nautic Faculty of (metro: Barceloneta) and he arrives to the portic Plaza of Pla de Palau. To the right one finds the building of the Delegation of the Government.
The wide Avenue Marqués de l'Argentera, with which the Delegation of the Government building makes corner, leads a few meters meters ahead until the Estación de Francia, made of the typical iron architecture of the era of the industrial revolution. This station was constructed in the city for the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1888 and has been remodelated in numerous occasions.
At the end of the avenue one finds the park of the Ciutadella, called like this because in that place once was located a ciudadela, fortified military enclosure, that had been constructed between 1716 and 1727 after the succession war.
In 1869 the fortification was demolished, giving place to this park that nowadays welcomes the zoo of the city and the museums of Zoology, Geology and Modern Art, in addition to numerous statues of artistic interest.
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