by James Culham
First off, get a good view of the city. The Castell de Montjuic or Parc Guell are the best places. If you choose Montjuic you will pass many of the venues from the '92 summer Olympics on the way up the mountain to the viewpoint. Stop and take a look at the Olympic swimming pool - Piscina Bernardo Picornell - perched on the edge of the mountain overlooking the city - surely the most breathtaking setting for a pool in the world. The indoor and outdoor pools are open week days until midnight and daytime on weekends - a good way to spend two hours in itself. Continue up to the Castell and take in the splendid views, day or night. On your right climbing up to the viewpoint there is also an interesting building built into the mountainside designed by Eric Miralles, one of Barcelona's famous architects of the 1980s and 90s. Mies Van de Rohe's masterpiece Barcelona Pavilion is also nearby. From the centre of town, this takes roughly 30 minutes - the taxi round trip will cost around 20 Euros. Print the map below for easy communication even if you don't speak Spanish or Catalan. This tour is organized to stay close to places with taxi stands (also marked on the map by yellow and black cab image) so that you can hop in and out and move quickly with ease. Be sure to have enough cash on hand - rates start at 1.25 Euros plus approximately 0.60/km. You may decide to fix a rate with a taxi to stay with you for the full two hours - roughly 100 Euros. He'll think you're crazy, but he's wrong. In fact, if there are two or more of you to share the cost, it is the best way to go. Instead of the Citadel and Olympics area you could choose to go to Parc Guell, designed by Antonio Gaudi. The view is similar, though you may be inclined to spend the full two hours in this fantastical park.
Get the taxi to drop you at the Sagrada Familia in the Eixample district just outside of the medieval city walls. If you only get to one of Gaudi's buildings this is the one. It has taken more than a century and they are still decades from completion, but you're going to see it all in 20 minutes. From here, depending on your interests either get the taxi driver to take you to Vincon (Passeig de Gracia, 96) - the most famous design store in town and one of the best anywhere - or get dropped at the beach, Platja Barceloneta. Don't stray too far from the Hotel des Arts tower because you'll need to catch another taxi there after a short walk on the beach - or you can catch a race or two at the dog races at the Canodromo Meridiana - races happen every ten minutes or so and there are tapas for while you wait. you might want to ask your taxi to wait while you watch as it isn't an easy area to find one.
Now, whether you are at the beach or up shopping at Vincon on the Pg. de Gracia taxis are easy to find - so hop in and head to the south west side of La Rambla to take a stroll around by the Museum of Contemporary Art - there isn't much time for a look, but you can check in the lobby and if one exhibit is particularly interesting - take 20 minutes or so to look around. There is a new hotel by Camper Shoes opening in the summer of 2004 on C. d'Elisabets. Luckily Barcelona is an easy town to get a decent meal in ten minutes - drop in to the Botega Ginesta for a tapas - have a glass of wine and a few tapas and you're ready for another walk. Or if you happen to be visiting during May-September of 2004 be sure to get the taxi to take you along the water by the Forum Barcelona grounds - a kind of world exhibition on the themes of sustainable development, cultural diversity and conditions for peace. There isn't much that you can take in in such short time, but at least you'll see buildings by leading young Catalan and Spanish architects and get a sense of what is going on.
Now walk down through the bustling Boqueria food market (mostly fish and produce) and over to the other side of La Rambla to look around in some of Barcelona's own fashion shops - particularly in the La Ribera district. There is a vibrant local fashion scene. The further north and east you get from the street performers and cheap tourist merchandise of Las Ramblas, the better.
If you don't have a taxi, start to make your way down to the Estacio de Franca train station or up to Placa de Cataluna - there are always taxis at both places. Rush hour in Barcelona is from 7-9am and 5-7pm - so allow extra time if travelling during those hours. Taxi to the airport takes 20 minutes outside of rush hour and costs about 20 Euros. There, you've covered more than 20 kms, seen the most spectacular views in town, briefly visited maybe ten or more of the best local shops, sampled tapas at three or four places. Now settle back into the conference - or head to the airport or wherever is next. You can't say you didn't get a chance to see anything....
You're getting low on time, and soon have to leave for the airport, or meetings or whatever - but luckily you're in the best tapas area in Barcelona, which is to say, the world. There is even time for two or more stops in 20 minutes - Several great tapas bars in the small streets in the Ciutat Vella district, between Placa de Sant Jaume and Placa Sta. Maria. The best in town is Paco Guzman's Santa Maria on Carrer del Comerc at the cross street with Carrer del la Princesa. Most tapas bars are open 1:30-4:30pm and 8:30pm to 1am. At some you pay by the number of toothpicks which are left on your plate.
Of course we all wish for the days of The Grand Tour - and to have the time and money to spend two weeks or two months exploring the world's great cities. But times have changed and so has travel. If you only have two hours to escape the boring conference or on a layover or between meetings or before you have to be at the airport, rather than spending it walking in circles in some charmless part of town or sitting at the departure gate reading a cheap paperback, here are some suggestions to make a memorable time of a short time. 2 hrs in... is a series of travel articles and future book on hyper-travel tips. The first city featured is Barcelona.
related articles: 2 hrs in... santiago de chile (coming soon) 2 hrs in... wellington, new zealand (coming soon) 2 hrs in... tokyo (coming soon) |
A new kind of travel guide for anyone who has ever said
2:00hrs
1:30hrs
1:10hrs
0:40hrs 
0:20hrs
