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THE NORTHERN SUBURBS
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The northern suburbs
U
ntil the Eixample stretched out across the plain to meet them, a string
of small towns and villages ringed the city to the north.Today, they’re
firmly entrenched as suburbs of Barcelona, but most still retain an
individual identity worth investigating even on a short visit to the city.
Some of the sights will figure on most people’s tours of the city, while others
are more specialized, but taken together they do help to counter the notion
that Barcelona begins and ends on the Ramblas.
Gràcia
– the closest neighbourhood to the Eixample – is still very much
the liberal, almost bohemian stronghold it was in the nineteenth century.Visits
tend to revolve around browsing in the neighbourhood market or sipping a
drink in one of the quiet squares, though Gràcia also has an active cultural
scene and nightlife of its own. Antoni Gaudí’s surreal
Parc Güell
, on the
northeastern fringes of Gràcia, is the single biggest draw, while in neigh-
bouring
Horta
(“garden”, named for the gardens and country estates that
once characterized the area) a couple more distinctive parks attract the
curious with an hour or two to spare, notably the
Parc del Laberint
and its
renowned maze.
To the northwest of the city centre, what was once the village of
Les Corts
is now indistinguishable from the rest of the modern city, save for the
hallowed precincts of
Camp Nou
, FC Barcelona’s stupendous football
stadium and museum. North of here, past the university and across Avinguda
Diagonal, the
Palau Reial de Pedralbes
combines three applied art
museums, while a half-day’s excursion can be made of the trip by walking
from the palace, past the Gaudí dragon gate at
Pavellons Güell
to the
Gothic
Monestir de Pedralbes
. Meanwhile,
Sarrià
just to the east, is still
more like a small town than a suburb, with a pretty main street and market
to explore.
Perhaps the only rival to Parc Güell as a single-destination visit out of the
centre is the city’s new science museum,
CosmoCaixa
, which opened in 2005.
This lies just below the ring road (the Ronda de Dalt), beyond which extend
the Collserola hills whose highest peak –
Tibidabo
, reached by tram and
funicular – should really be saved for a clear day.The views are the draw here,
from the amusement park, peak-top church or nearby
Torre de Collserola
,
while a pleasant walk winds west to
Vallvidrera
, a hilltop village with another
funicular connection back towards the city. Finally, from the information centre
of the nearby
Parc de Collserola
, you can hike in the pinewoods high above
Barcelona and see scarcely a soul – perhaps the greatest surprise in this most
surprising of cities.
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