Montjuïc - The Rough Guide to Barcelona - page 150

ing town of Almáden - its name spelled out in dangling metal letters above the fountain -
which saw saturation bombing during the Civil War.
Other exhibits
Other exhibits include Miró's enormous bright tapestries (he donated nine to the museum),
pencil drawings (particularly of misshapen women and gawky ballerinas) and sculpture out-
side in the gardens. All these started life in the form of sketchesandnotes , and the museum
has retained five thousand separate examples, of which it usually displays a selection. From
a doodle on a scrap of old newspaper or on the back of a postcard, it's possible to trace the
development of shapes and themes that later evolved into full-blown works of art.
< Back to Montjuïc
Castell de Montjuïc
Carretera de Montjuïc 66 • Grounds open daily 9am-7pm (April-Sept until 9pm) • Free • 932 564 445,
bcn.cat/castelldemontjuic • Direct access by Telefèric de Montjuïc, or bus #150 from Av. de la Reina Maria
Cristina
Marking the top of Montjuïc and the end of the line is Barcelona's castle ; the best way up is
bytheTelefèricdeMontjuïc(see Bycable-car ) ,whichtacksupthehillside,offeringmagnifi-
cent views on the way, before depositing you within the forbidding eighteenth-century walls.
The fortress served as a military base and prison for decades, and was where the last pres-
ident of the pre-war Generalitat, Lluís Companys i Jover , was executed on Franco's orders
on October 15, 1940 - he had been in exile in Paris after the Civil War, but was handed over
to Franco by the Germans upon their capture of the French capital (he's buried in the nearby
Cementiri del Sud-Oest).
As an outpost of the Spanish state in fiercely proud Catalunya, the castle long remained a
provocation to Barcelona's citizens but in 2008 it was symbolically handed over to the city,
and restoration work is now transforming the site into a combined peace museum, memori-
al space and Montjuïc interpretation centre. The cable-car ride and dramatic location merit a
visit in any case, while the ramparts and grounds are free to enter. You can also walk around
the outer walls of the fortress, where the locals come at weekends to practise archery in the
moat. There are open-air film screenings up here in summer too.
Camí del Mar and Mirador del Migdia
Below the castle walls, a panoramic pathway - the Camí del Mar - has been cut from the
cliffedge,providingmagnificentviews,firstacrosstoPortOlímpicandthenorthernbeaches,
and then southwest as the path swings around the castle. This is an unfamiliar view of the
city, of the sprawling docks and container yards, and cruise ships and tankers are usually vis-
iblenegotiating thebusysealanes.Thepathisjustover1kmlongandendsatthebackofthe
castle battlements near the MiradordelMigdia , where there's a great open-air chill-out bar,
La Caseta del Migdia . Down through the trees is the mirador itself, a balcony with extens-