Tossa de Mar, Costa Brava
Tossa de Mar is a little over an hour drive north of Barcelona. In the 12th century the medieval town was walled off and a castle was built on the highest point of Mt. Guardí.
The town was popular with Spanish and foreign artists during the 1930′s and the municipal museum has a good collection including the Celestial Violinist by Marc Chagall.
There is a trail with great views that goes between Tossa de Mar and Lloret de Mar. The route between Tossa de Mar and Lloret de Mar coincides with section 11 of the GR 92 trail.
See also
Lloret de Mar – Tossa de Mar – GRs
Palau del Parlament de Catalunya
The Parliament of Catalonia, located in Parc de la Ciutadella. The statue of a woman in front of the building is called Desconsol (Distress; 1907), by modernist Catalan sculptor Josep Llimona i Bruguera (1864- 1934).
La Deesa, Josep Clarà
La Deesa (La diosa, The goddess) by Josep Clarà i Ayats (1878–1958) in Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona.
Cadaqués, Port Lligat and Cap de Creus
Cadaqués is a former fishing village set on a bay in the middle of the Cap de Creus peninsula on Spain’s Costa Brava.
Salvador Dalí often visited Cadaqués in his childhood and he discovered modern painting on a summer vacation here with the family of Ramon Pichot, a local artist who made regular trips to Paris. Dalí later kept a home in nearby Port Lligat.
Port Lligat
Dalí’s house in Port Lligat has been converted into the Casa-Museo Salvador Dalí. Both the bay and the island have been represented in several of Dalí’s paintings, including The Madonna of Port Lligat, Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus), and The Sacrament of the Last Supper.
Near the Cap De Creus Lighthouse
Plaça Sant Felip Neri
Hidden in the heart of the Gothic Quarter, this beautiful plaça is steeped in history, tragedy and controversy.
Named after an Italian Jesuit preacher who was made a saint, Plaça Sant Felip Neri was built on the grounds of a medieval cemetery, the ancient cemetery of Montjuïc del Bisbe. The baroque church on its premises was built in 1752.
Antoni Gaudí, the famous Catalan architect, was hit by a tram at the cross of Gran Via and Carrer de Bailénon on his way to Sant Felip Neri church in 1926. Due to his lack of identity documents and shabby clothing he was taken to a pauper’s hospital, where he later died.
The pockmarked church façade records the damage of a bombing raid that took place during the Spanish Civil War on the 30th of January 1938, killing 42 people, mostly children. It is also said that summary executions took place here after the fall of Barcelona, leaving bullet holes in the wall of the church.
Scenes from the music video of My Immortal by Evanescence and from the movies Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and Vicky Cristina Barcelona were filmed here. The character Nuria Montfort lived here in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s popular novel The Shadow of the Wind.
The Magic Fountain of Montjuic and the Palau Nacional, Barcelona
The Magic Fountain (Font Màgica), designed by Carles Buigas, was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
Looking down Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina on Montjuïc hill. Past the fountain are the Venetian Towers and at the bottom is Plaça d’Espanya and the Arenas de Barcelona, formerly a bullring.
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya is housed in the Palau Nacional, also built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. The MNAC combines Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque art collections along with collections from 19th and 20th century.
Moody April Dawn, Barceloneta
L’Estel Ferit (The Wounded Shooting Star) By Rebecca Horn, commissioned for the 1992 Summer Olympics.
