Spring in the Parc del Laberint in Horta (Barcelona)

 

This park is the oldest in Barcelona , and so far my favorite between all parks I've visited here. Works began in 1791 when marquis Joan Antoni Desvalls i d'Ardena, owner of the lot, created the design of a neoclassical garden in collaboration with Italian architect Domenico Bagutti. There are huge trees, pools, water canals, a waterfall different terraces with flower beds and of course the labyrinth. You also have the sea view , and the view of Barcelona from an unusual angle. You have to pay to enter the park , but only 2,23 euros, and on Wednesdays and Sundays it is free  but they only let in 750 people a day. With the green metro line you have to take off at Mundet and walk a bit, basically the park is behind the Velodrom of Horta which also deserves a short visit I think. Secretly I can tell you that I like this park better than Park Guell, it is not so crowded and the vegetation is much nicer and mature with real trees, much more romantic.

Vic : tuesday market, official tourist walk, and a stop in Figaro on the way back

It takes 1h20' to get to Vic , and the return ticket costs 10,40 euros from Plaza Catalunya. The second part of the train route is really nice, goes between green hills , next to small rivers and wild flower fields, although the first half in the Valles area was not to friendly, it is quite industrial and overpacked with newly build blocks. Every tuesday and sturdy there is a market on Vic's Plaza Mayor. The square is really pretty, with a medieval atmosphere , especially that the square itself is not covered with tiles or stones or concrete, instead it is covered with gravel.The market is just like the typical general weekly markets around Barcelona: lot of chinese stuff, some second hand clothes for 1 euro each, cheap cosmetics, big variety of potted plants, good looking and delicious vegetables. Luckily the tourist information office was open so i could get a map of the city, and also many useful information and guides about walking paths around the city, one of those goes to the Monastery of Sant Pere de Casserres , and it looks really pretty on the photos, so i would really like to walk there soon, it is just a 19km walk back and forth.There is a nice little "touristic route" in Vic, which drives you around the old town , carefully , so you stay only on the very pretty old streets and got to see all the classical sights the town can offer. The river with the old bridge is pretty although the other side of the river and all the other bridges are newly build uninteresting grey things. There is a real roman church on the way as well which i found quite impressive, there was a local flower-painter's exhibition in the church, so from the inside it didn't look like a roman church at all. The whole walk can be done in an hour, and it drives you back to the Plaza Mayor, from there the train station is just 5 minutes walk.

Thursday market in Sant Cugat de Valles

It takes around half an hour to get to Sant Cugat with the Ferrocariles de La Generalitat from Plaza Catalunya. It is quite a nice trip on the train as it crosses some forest areas around Barcelona , with some nice flowery trees, not crowded with industrial buildings like other suburb areas of Barcelona. I will wander around in other villages by this train line later , cause they look nice. Sant Cugat is a pretty little town,at least the center of it is. There is calm countryside atmosphere in the air, but you find surprisingly fancy shops on the main streets, even an Apple store , which you won't find in Barcelona. The market is quite big there are only a few second hand clothes seller, but many new clothes, kitchen utensils, house textile stands.The market is on some nice streets and around the medieval monastery.It is a really nice atmosphere, but the only thing i thought was better to buy than in Barcelona ware plants, there are many plant sellers, with big variety , and good quality plants, usually for cheaper than on the city.Also the second hand clothes were quite cheap and was possible to find some nice things for a few euros.Before i only heard people going to work to Sant Cugat, so i imagined some industrial, computer designed, boring, grey town, but it was a very positive disappointment after all!
return FGC ticket : 5,40 eur travel time: 30 min each ways