Turó de les Tres Creus
All 51 photos in Barcelona & Montserrat 2024
The jagged mountain and Gaudí's city · May 2024 · 51 photos
Late May in Barcelona: long days, clear skies and warm evening light. The city first appears from the plane, spread between the sea and the hills behind it. At midday, Barceloneta beach is crowded, and on the sand stands L'Estel Ferit, Rebecca Horn's sculpture of steel cubes, made for the 1992 Olympic Games.
Barcelona
The city spread between the sea and the hills behind it, with its beaches strung along the shore.
Barcelona from the air, Barcelona, Spain
Platja de la Barceloneta
The sand crowded at midday, the calm sea and the rusted cubes of the L'Estel Ferit sculpture.
Platja de la Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain
The evening is on Montjuïc, at the Palau Nacional, built for the 1929 International Exposition and now home to the National Art Museum of Catalonia. The four columns below its terrace were rebuilt in 2010. After dark, beams of light rise behind the palace, and the avenue runs down to Plaça d'Espanya.
Montjuïc
The Palau Nacional at blue hour, its towers and dome golden, then, after dark, the beams of light, the lit columns and the avenue running down to Plaça d'Espanya.
Palau Nacional at blue hour, Barcelona, Spain 
Palau Nacional, Barcelona, Spain 
The Four Columns, Barcelona, Spain 
Plaça d'Espanya from Montjuïc, Barcelona, Spain 
Palau Nacional at night, Barcelona, Spain
On Passeig de Gràcia stands La Pedrera, or Casa Milà, built by Antoni Gaudí between 1906 and 1912, with its undulating stone façade. Sagrada Família, the basilica Gaudí worked on for more than 40 years, has been under construction since 1882 and was consecrated in 2010. Inside, the columns branch toward the vault like the trunks of a forest, and the stained glass colors the light: green and blue on one side, red and orange on the other. From the tower, the city can be seen all the way to the sea.
La Pedrera
The undulating stone façade with its wrought-iron balconies under the blue midday sky.
La Pedrera, Barcelona, Spain
Sagrada Família
The Passion Façade with cranes above the towers, the nave with its branching columns, the colored light of the stained glass and the city seen from the tower.
Passion Façade, Barcelona, Spain 
Nativity Façade, Barcelona, Spain 
The central nave, Barcelona, Spain 
Light from the stained glass, Barcelona, Spain 
Columns like trees, Barcelona, Spain 
Toward the altar, Barcelona, Spain 
The vault, Barcelona, Spain 
The green and blue windows, Barcelona, Spain 
The towers up close, Barcelona, Spain 
The city from the tower, Barcelona, Spain
In the Barri Gòtic, the old quarter, narrow lanes lead to the Gothic cathedral, whose neo-Gothic façade was added in the 19th century. Toward evening, Parc de la Ciutadella, on the site of the old citadel, where the 1888 Universal Exposition left the monumental Cascada fountain. Then Park Güell, the garden suburb Gaudí conceived in the early 20th century, now a public park and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. By the sea, in Port Vell, the old harbor, yachts lie below Montjuïc hill.
Barri Gòtic
Narrow stone lanes with balconies and street lamps, and the cathedral's spire at the end of one of them.
Lanes of the Barri Gòtic, Barcelona, Spain 
Toward Barcelona Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain 
Barri Gòtic, Barcelona, Spain
Parc de la Ciutadella
The gilded group of statues crowning the fountain, above a pool of green water.
Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona, Spain
Park Güell
Pavilions with wavy roofs and turrets in fragments of ceramic, the winding bench in the same mosaic, rough stone viaducts on columns, a mound with three crosses and the outline of the mountain against a golden sky.
Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain 
The stone viaduct, Barcelona, Spain 
Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain 
Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain 
Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain 
Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain 
Tibidabo, Barcelona, Spain 
Turó de les Tres Creus, Barcelona, Spain
Port Vell
The masts of the yachts in the old harbor, the palms on the quay and Montjuïc hill in the distance.
Port Vell, Barcelona, Spain
Montserrat lies about 50 km northwest of Barcelona. The conglomerate massif, shaped by erosion, rises sharply from the Llobregat valley to 1,236 m at the summit of Sant Jeroni. On a ledge halfway up the mountain stands the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat. On the way back, in the afternoon, the long beach at Castelldefels, southwest of the city, and toward evening the Collserola Natural Park, on the hills behind Barcelona. After sunset, Platja de la Mar Bella.
Montserrat
The jagged ridge seen from the road at El Bruc, the monastery buildings, paths beneath rounded rocks and the deep valley below, with the hills of Catalonia stretching far away.
Montserrat, El Bruc, Spain 
Montserrat, Monistrol de Montserrat, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Monistrol de Montserrat, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Monistrol de Montserrat, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
Montserrat, Collbató, Spain 
The valley below the monastery, Monistrol de Montserrat, Spain
Castelldefels
The promenade among palms, the grassy dunes and the kitesurfers' kites above the sea.
The Castelldefels promenade, Castelldefels, Spain 
Castelldefels beach, Castelldefels, Spain
Collserola
The forests on the hills in the evening light, with Barcelona and the sea spread out below.
Collserola, Sant Just Desvern, Spain 
Collserola, Sant Just Desvern, Spain 
Barcelona and the sea, Sant Just Desvern, Spain
Platja de la Mar Bella
Small waves on the sand and the buildings on the shore against a sky still colored.
Platja de la Mar Bella, Barcelona, Spain