English
Have you ever dreamed of being Icarus and seeing a city like Barcelona from the air? It´s a great dream, but reality is somewhat different. However, we can see the cities from high points and we will tell you the secret of how to do it if you´re in Barcelona and have no wings to fly.
Heights have a fatal attraction when you travel to a city and that´s due to the desire that we all have of seeing at a single glance everything that surrounds us, even more so if we´re going for a limited time to a place and we want to take back as much visual memories as possible.
Barcelona has beautiful places to see panoramically from the air. One of them is the Mirador de Colom, which is a tower with a viewpoint that has in its upper part the statue of Cristopher Columbus pointing towards the Mediterranean. It´s located on the bottom of the Ramblas and it was built by the Council in 1881 to pay tribute to the discoverer of America who arrived by in Europe to the port of Barcelona.
From there you can see all of the city´s splendor in the four areas of the city. North we have the Gothic district, the bell towers of La Mercè and Santa María del Mar, the Ramblas and even the beautiful Eixample district. Looking south we can see Montjuïc, to the west we have the Natural Park of Collserola and to the east, following the coast, the Forum.
The Torre Agbar is one of the three skyscrapers that Barcelona has and it distinguishes itself due to its cylindrical shape which breaks with the classic rigid figure of the architecture of this type of buildings. It was designed by the architect Jean Nouvel, who took various elements which are part of the city´s imaginarium, such as the bell tower of the Sagrada Família and the shapes of the pinnacles of the mountains of Montserrat, where the patron saint of Catalonia is. At night, the building lights up, transforming into a lighthouse that looks towards the Mediterranean.
The building is over 470ft tall and has 32 floors. On the upper part and under the dome there´s a viewpoint from which you can have a privileged view of the Sagrada Família and the city in 360º. It´s a unique view of Barcelona and it doesn´t matter where you look, it will be equally as beautiful.
Another place that´s worth visiting to enjoy its views is Torre Colón, a building constructed in 1967 that is 360ft tall and was the tallest building for 20 years until the construction of the two towers of Hotel Arts and Torre Mapfre. It has interesting architecture, very typical of the time, with cement in view. From the roof you can see complete panoramic views of Barcelona, with the port in the foreground.
Remember that in October there´s the 48h Open House Barcelona and for two days you can visit all the public and private buildings in the city.
For more information: http://www.wtcbarcelona.com/edificio-emblematico-con-vistas-al-mar.html
However, don´t wait that long and come this spring to apartments in Barcelona to visit one of these wonderful places and see a different side of the Catalan capital.
