Parc de la Ciutadella

East of La Ribera, across Passeig de Picasso, the Parc de la Ciutadella is the largest green space in the city centre. It’s also the meeting place of the Catalan parliament (no public access), occupying part of a fortress-like structure right at the centre of the park, the surviving portion of the star-shaped Bourbon citadel from which the park takes its name. In 1888, the park was chosen as the site of the Universal Exhibition, and the city’s modernista architects left their mark here in a series of eye-catching buildings and monuments, not least the giant brick Arc de Triomf that dominates the avenue at the top of the park.