Best view in Barcelona?! Not from La Sagrada Familia, not from Parc Güell but for Montjuic! Aka the Jewish mountain! It has a sad story for why it's called so, read on to learn more...
So every keen traveler, or nowadays 'IG traveler' is always on the lookout for the best vantage point of wherever they are. I was surprised Montjuïc is not mentioned more frequently as THE PLACE to be if you want a killer view or a killer moment actually!
Montjuïc actually means the Jewish mountain in Catalan and it is where the Jews of Barcelona were sent to be killed and buried out of the city! And then when the city was short of building stones their tombstones were used to build new parts of the city!! (As we've learnt from the Free Walking tour of the Gothic Quarter, totally worth booking BTW).
“It's a universal law--intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility ” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
Wise words those are from Aleksandr, a Russian novelist and short story writer who was also an outspoken critic of the Soviet Union… Being half Middle Eastern and from Arab heritage I feel strongly about the Palestinian struggle and injustice happening across the border from my home town Jordan, as well as many other countries, however there is a difference between Zionism and Judaism and I do NOT condone the expulsion of innocents anywhere.
Going back to the VIEWS
So, I did not expect the absolutely magnificent views we were about to encounter when we went up towards the castle, which by the way you can get to either cheaply via the metro or expensively via the teleferic (nice views as well on the way up but I'd recommend skipping it or taking it one way only!). When you walk up those steps to the lookout tower, my oh my, you will be graced by the entirety of Barca; the city, the sea, the mountains… It'll take you a few minutes or more to grasp where you are and what you're witnessing!
It's amazing any time of the day but if I'd go again I would go during sunset time for an undoubtedly phenomenal panoramic display.
Guide or no Guide?
We personally didn't take a guide (or an audio guide surprisingly) however the info at the castle itself was sufficient and the display room in one of the chambers was particularly informative. It made me feel for Lluis Companys, the only democratically elected Catalonian president who was killed by the Nazis! You have to read his last words before he was executed on the grounds of the castle. Chilling but oh so beautiful!
