Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
during the Spanish Civil War and had more than 1300 air-raid shelters. Local citizens started
digging this one under a fold of Montjuïc in March 1937.
In the course of the next two years, the web of tunnels was slowly extended to 200m, with
a theoretical capacity for 2000 people. People were not allowed to sleep overnight in the
shelter - when raids were not being carried out work continued on its extension. Vaulted to
displace the weight above the shelter to the clay brick walls (clay is porous, which allowed
the bricks to absorb the shock waves of falling bombs without cracking), the tunnels were
narrow and winding. Coated in lime to seal out humidity and whitewashed to relieve the
sense of claustrophobia, they became a second home for many El Poble Sec folks.
When the civil war ended, Franco had some extensions made because he considered the
option of entering WWII on Hitler's side. When he decided not to join the war, this and oth-
er shelters were largely abandoned. In the tough years of famine and rationing during the
1940s and 1950s, families from Granada took up residence here rather than in the shacks
springing up all over the area, as poor migrants arrived from southern Spain. Later on, an
enterprising fellow grew mushrooms here for sale on the black market.
The half-hour tours (in Catalan or Spanish; book ahead for English or French) explain all
this and more.
GARDENS
JARDINS DE MOSSÈN CINTO DE VERDAGUER
Near the Estació Parc Montjuïc funicular/Telefèric station are the ornamental Jardins de
Mossèn Cinto de Verdaguer. These sloping, verdant gardens are home to various kinds of
bulbs and aquatic plants. Many of the former (some 80,000) have to be replanted each year.
They include tulips, narcissus, crocus, varieties of dahlia and more. The aquatic plants in-
clude lotus and water lilies.
GARDENS
JARDINS DE MOSSÈN COSTA I LLOBERA
10am-sunset; Trans-
bordador Aeri, Miramar)
Towards the foot of the part of Montjuïc below the castle, above the thundering traffic of the
main road to Tarragona, the Jardins de Mossèn Costa i Llobera have a good collection of
tropical and desert plants - including a veritable forest of cacti.
SQUARE, NEIGHBOURHOOD
PLAÇA D'ESPANYA & AROUND
Espanya)
