Penetrating the city's poorer neighborhoods prior to 1992 was always a sentimental safari, which at the same time brought you face to face with Barcelona's greatest mystery. The sea was there, that's for sure. The humidity in the air, the smell of salt...but it must have done its swaying crouching, as if ashamed of the scene before it. It was easier to see it from above, from the higher areas than to peer at it from the gray alleys of Poblenou and the unwelcoming frontier of the railway tracks. While the elevated meeting point between Muntaner and Plaza Adriano is still a great vantagepoint to see the sea, the situation now is entirely different. Walking down to the Port Vell, towards the Olympic harbor and the beaches stretching out to Badalona, is today one of Barcelona's most stimulating pleasures. The Olympic Games, held here 10 years ago, returned the city to its maritime vocation and earned it a reputation for being the venue that best hosted the Olympic family, all in close quarters, including sailors usually confined miles away from the Games' epicenter.
MÁS INFORMACIÓN
The industrial area chosen as the sight for the so-called Olympic Village, also the central point for sailing competitions, is now a 60-hectare expanse, gathering more than 2000 apartments and different apartment buildings. Two gigantic menhirs break the horizontality of downtown Barcelona: The Mapfre Tower and the Hotel Arts, each 44 stories high. Linking the sea promenade and the beaches to the rest of the city is the Barceloneta neighborhood. Its baroque church of Sant Miquel del Port, as well as the Port Vell with its old warehouse, el Palau del Mar, built in 1880 are both worth a visit. The recently restored headquarters of Catalonia's History Museum gather a number of bright restaurants and cafés. A few meters further down is the shopping and cinema complex of the Maremàgnum, the aquarium, and a little beyond the seaside promenade of Moll d'Espanya, linked to the last section of La Rambla through a gyrating bridge. Barcelona's erotic gay film festival will be held in the Mar Bella pavilion until Sunday 17.
At 213 meters above sea level rises the Castle of Montjuïc, a 17th century fortress with panoramic views over the city and the port. And on the southeastern face of a hill, termed as the magic hill after the feats of Spanish athletes in 1992, lie the landmark facilities exclusively built for the Olympics. The Olympic stadium and the Palau Sant Jordi, the latter designed by Arata Isozaki.
El Espanyol, which together with Barcelona is the only Catalan soccer team in Spain's first division, plays in the Olympic Stadium as well as Barcelona's American football team, the Barcelona Dragons. In the entrails of the structure remodeled by architects Ricard Sans and Lluís Samaranch are the headquarters of the Olympic Foundation and of the Olympic Gallery. A permanent exhibit on the Barcelona Games occupies 484 square meters of the exhibition space, another 276 square meters hosts a show on the different Olympic ceremonies and a further 200 are devoted to temporary exhibits. With its black, flattened exterior dome, the beetle-like Palau Sant Jordi has consolidated as the city's most chameleon-like structure, hosting events as diverse as the Holiday on Ice show, windsurfing trials, cross-country bike racing and all types of conventions and concerts. This very week it will stage a concert gathering performances by The Cranberries, Dover and Weezer.
Public transport is one of the unresolved matters of this area packed with attractions and circled by what used to be the Formula 1 circuit of Montjuïc, which hosted Spain's national Formula 1 championship until 1975. The vast expanse surrounding the Estadi and the Palau boasts a number of interesting sights, dotting the hillside all the way down to the Paral.lel and Plaza Espanya. Among others, Calatrava's tower, Bernat Picornell's swimming pools, the botanical gardens and a jumble of sports facilities, gardens and original buildings combine entertainment, sport and culture. Famous singer and songwriter Manu Chao will hold a concert here this week.
The Camp Nou, the stadium for the city's largest soccer club Barcelona FC, lies near the area where the summit gathering the European heads of states will take place. This is the stadium where Spain's national team won the Olympic gold medal and where the local team, Barça will face Real Madrid tomorrow in a game that will exemplify, like no other, the city's passion for the sport. With a capacity for 100,000, the stadium will try to prove on that day why, according to the club's slogan més que un club, Barça is more than just a club. Taking pride of place among the club's facilities, including the Palau Blaugrana, the Miniestadi, the Palau de Gel, is the Museu, which exhibits the club's history and the evolution of the sport in Spain, and occupies an area of almost 4,000 meters. It's one of Catalonia's most visited museums.
And the Olympic Games also left a legacy of passion for sports outside strictly professional circles and the city's people flock to the less pretentious sporting arenas, such as sailing and fencing schools, or the multisport complex of Vall d'Hebron. The latter occupies an area of over 30 hectares that was once termed the urban hole.
* Este artículo apareció en la edición impresa del Viernes, 15 de marzo de 2002