Barcelona Guide
La Ribera
Parc de la Ciutadella
Address: Main gates on Passeig de Picasso; another entrance on Passeig de Pujades
Opening time: Daily 8am– dusk
Standing on the (largely cleared) site of a former Bourbon fortress, and imprinted with eye-catching buildings and monuments created by the city's modernista architects, including the young Gaudí, for the Universal Exhibition of 1888, the Parc de la Ciutadella is still the biggest green space in the city centre. Home to a splendid fountain, large lake, plant houses, two museums and the city zoo, it's a very popular place for a stroll. Sundays especially see couples and families taking time out here, while a younger crowd assembles for vigorous didgeridooing or bongo-work.
The Cascada, the monumental fountain in the northeast corner, was designed by Josep Fontseré i Mestrès, chosen to oversee the conversion of the former citadel grounds into a park; his assistant was the young Antoni Gaudí, then a student. The Baroque extravagance of the Cascada is suggestive of the flamboyant decoration that later became Gaudí's trademark. The best place to contemplate the fountain's tiers and swirls is from the small open-air café to the south. Here you'll also find a lake, where for a few euros you can rent a rowboat and paddle about among the ducks.
Just inside the park's northern entrance, Lluís Domènech i Montaner designed a castle-like building intended for use as the exhibition's café-restaurant. Dubbed the Castell dels Tres Dragons, it became a centre for modernista arts and crafts. It's now used by the zoological section of the city's Natural Science Museum. The nearby Museu de Geologia is another restored period piece, with nineteenth-century cases of exhibits housed in a classical, pedimented building.
However, the two real unsung glories of Ciutadella are its plant houses, arranged either side of the Geological Museum. The imposing Umbracle (palmhouse) is a handsome structure with a barrelled wood-slat roof supported by cast-iron pillars, which allows shafts of light to play across the palms and ferns. Both materials and concept are echoed in the larger Hivernacle (conservatory), whose enclosed greenhouses are separated by a soaring glass-roofed terrace. A refined café-bar at the Hivernacle (open from 10am) makes a great stop for drinks or a meal, with tables among the palm trees.