An Afternoon in the Ciutadella

The Ciutadella is easily Barcelona's best park. It's always full of activities, most of which happen spontaneously: people dancing, playing all kinds of insturments and singing, slacklining... And most of all, there are people from all over the world there. In the summer, one can easily spend a whole day there without getting bored for a second.

It's really like one huge picnick.

Today I was feeling a bit anxious and worried, so I came here for a cheer-up walk. This place always makes me forget about problems and my day seems much brighter.

 

That's the most famous spot in Ciutadella: Gaudi's fountain. It's exotic, overgrown, lush beauty always leaves me speechless. I sat in the sun here for a while, enjoying the sound of the running water. Unfortunately, this places is always full of tourists, there are people taking photos - or posing for photos - all around you, and it's not the best place to relax. So I continued my walk.

This artificial lake is another overgrown, lush spot. It's a bit calmer here, although in high season it's overflowing with little wooden boats full of tourists. You can rent these boats to the side, I have no idea about the price but I imagine it's a "precio guiri special" (meaning, ridicoulosly high).

Oh and on the other side of the lake, I stumbled upon this goose with her babies! They even let me sit on the grass next to them and take pictures. Such a sweet moment!

As I said there's lots of spontaneous live music around here. Usually it's just one person playing a guitar and maybe singing, but sometimes such a performance starts atracting other musicians, that come and join in randomly with their insturments and voices, and in the end you have a full band with an audience gathering to listen! I've seen large groups of people from all ethnicities and with all kinds of weird instruments mixing different types of music. Well this time, it was just this little group and it didn't attract such an audience, since there were other events going on a little bit further down.

Then there was this fun open-air circus performance in the middle of the park! It was a mix between acrobatics and comedy. A guy playing a hamster was doing daredevil acrobatic tricks in a huge hamster wheel, watched over by the circus master and his helpers. I didn't get much of wht was going on there, but it was still hillarious.

And then finally, there were the Castellers, one of Catalunya's famous traditions. They form human "castles" by standing on top of each other's shoulders. The higher you get, the younger you have to be - so the ones on top are usually llittle children! This "castle" was not as high, but then they started walking, which was quite impressive.

And let's not forget the huge soap bubble makers - there's always at least one of them around. I can sit and watch them for hours. It's magic!

It's amazing how this city has a number of places that can always make your day better.