Last week two of my best friends visited me in Barcelona. They came to Barcelona to celebrate their holidays and I saw the city through their eyes. As a result, I also felt like I was on a trip rather than doing things in the city where I live. It’s always nice to do touristy things and to see lots of things. Naturally I also took them to one of my favourite places in the city: Tibidabo.
The first time I visited Tibidabo was in the summer when I was only visiting Barcelona for a month. That time I didn’t expect that one day this city could become my home. It felt like it would be the first and last time that I would visit this interesting place. Nevertheless, I immediately loved it and I am still very fond of it. This special hill with a breath-taking view all over Barcelona is difficult to forget.
So, I decided to take my friends to this magical place. All the other days we had been discovering the city by foot, but going to Tibidabo felt like a mini holiday in a holiday. This is because in order to go to Tibidabo, you have to take a bus up the hill and it will take you 45 minutes. Unfortunately we had to wait a long time for the bus, because the Spanish bus drivers are not the most punctual. When the bus finally arrived, it was too full and we had to wait for the next bus. We were determined to get there, so we waited some more while drinking ice coffee. Compared to the adventure that awaited us, all this bus trouble was nothing. It would have taken us slightly longer to walk up there, which would be around 2 hours according to Google Maps. Even though I love hiking, I didn’t mind waiting and taking the bus.
When we arrived there, we immediately fell in love with the view. My friends for the first time and I for the third time. Tibidabo has an amusement park on the hill and even higher there are two churches. The amusement park is fun, however, as I am a culture enthusiast, beautiful churches make my heart beat faster. They are not normal churches; they are two churches on top of each other, as you can see on the photo. While the first church has a simpler outer appearance and a very detailed interior, the second one is higher and more fancy from the outside with a plainer, but beautiful interior. The whole construction is quite big for something on top of a hill and the beauty of it all was very inspiring. Inside the church we had our occasional “Do you think there is more to life?” discussion which led to fruitful insights.
From the square in front of the upper church we were able to see almost all of Barcelona. We could only see half of the view, because it’s not possible to enter the area behind the church. However, the view over the city and the sea was definitely amazing and mesmerizing. This day we didn’t ascend the towers of the church by elevator (for 3 euro’s), that will reveal a 360-degree view over the city and the sea on one side and the nature parks surrounding Barcelona on the other side. I had done that before and that view was astonishing, in spite of the cold and strong wind that blew me off my feet. It was an amazing experience to go up there and see all. Because we didn’t feel like getting blown away by a strong wind, we didn’t go up the tower that day.
We also didn’t visit the amusement park, because we felt too old for it. However, I didn’t tell my friends that the previous time I was there I had actually ended up going for a round in the carousel. It’s possible to buy separate tickets for one ride instead of buying tickets for the whole park. So even though this time we decided to keep our feet on the ground, next time I want to try the Ferris wheel to enjoy this view of Barcelona from the air.
