Barcelona Tourist Information, Spain

by Gary Marshall

Barcelona is one of the great European cities, notable for its architecture, historic monuments and art museums. This lively Mediterranean port is also capital of the Catalonia region of north-east Spain.


Running through the centre of Barcelona, from the port to the Placa de Catalunya, is the tree-lined Las Ramblas. This famous avenue is often crowded with street entertainers, tourists and shoppers. To the east of Las Ramblas is the medieval Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic), home to various palaces, churches and the Cathedral la Seu which dates from the 14th century. Further inland is the Eixample district, which was laid out during the 19th century and contains several of the city's Modernista-style buildings, most notably Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. The construction of this neo-Gothic cathedral was begun in 1882 and it is not expected to be completed for at least another 20 years. Another of Gaudi's fantastical creations, the Casa Mila (La Pedrera) with its curvy lines and surrealist chimney stacks, is also situated within the Eixample.

On the southern side of Barcelona is Montjuic Hill, which literally means 'Jews Mountain'. This expanse of greenery is home to a couple of notable art museums, the Fundacion Miro and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, as well as the 1992 Olympic stadium. For those who prefer a more thrilling ascent to the summit of Montjuic, there is a cable car which leads up to the castle. From here you can enjoy the fine views of the port.

One of Barcelona's newest art museums is the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), housed within a large glass-fronted building designed by the American architect Richard Meier. The MACBA contains modern works by Spanish and Catalan artists. Pablo Picasso spent some of his formative years in Barcelona and there is a museum dedicated to his work, with pieces that include 'The Harlequin' and a series entitled 'Las Meninas'.

The redeveloped Port Vell area contains an attractive marina along with shops, restaurants, cafes, an IMAX cinema and an aquarium. To the north is the former fishing district of Barceloneta, which has also been improved in recent years. As well as some fine beaches and excellent seafood restaurants, Barceloneta is home to the Museu Maritim which traces the city's maritime history.

The Barcelona Card, available from tourist offices, may be worth buying if you want to save a few euros on your visit. The card entitles you to free travel on public transport, as well as discounts at many museums, restaurants and nightclubs. Another money-saving option is the Articket, valid for six months, which provides you with free entry to several art museums, including the Picasso Museum and the MACBA. The Articket can be purchased at the participating museums.

Barcelona's main airport, known as El Prat, is just 8 miles (13 kilometres) from the city centre. Regular train and bus services are available from the airport to Estacio Sants. There are also a couple of alternative airports at Reus and Girona, both of which are used mainly by charter and budget airlines.

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Eiffel Tower , France

Eiffel Tower, or Tour Eiffel in French, is one of the most recognised icon of Paris, France and French culture. It is built of iron, and is located at the Champ de Mars (Field of Mars, the Greek god), beside the River Seine, in Paris, France. Designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is still the tallest structure in Paris. It is the world's most visited monument, with over 200 million people having been recorded as visited it, and close to 7 million in the year 2006 alone.


Eiffel Tower is 324m (1063ft) tall, including a 24m (79ft) antenna. This is equivalent to the height of a 81-storey building. Upon its completion in 1889, it became the tallest building in the world at a height of 300m, pushing the Washington Monument in Washington DC to second place. It held this title till 1930, when the Chrysler Building in New York surpassed it, at 319m. Today the Eiffel Tower is the fifth tallest structure in France.

Made of iron, the Eiffel Tower was originally intended for the 1888 Universal Exposition in Barcelona, but they rejected it. It ended up being built for the Paris Expo, the Exposition Universelle which marked the centennial of the French Revolution. It was inaugurated on 31 March 1889, and was opened to the public on 6 May. At the time it was built, it met with much criticism -- Parisians were shocked to find such a massive tower being placed in their city - novelist Guy de Maupassant ridiculed it by having lunch at its restaurant every day; asked why, he claimed it was the only place in Paris where he couldn't see the tower. The people also accused Eiffel of creating a structure that is artistic - or inartistic - without regard to engineering.

How to go to the Eiffel TowerBy Metro, you can disembark at the following stations:
• Bir-Hakeim (Ligne 6) - for direct access, two minute walk from here
• École Militaire (Ligne 8) - to enjoy a nice walk up the Champ de Mars towards the tower
• Trocadéro (Ligne 6 or 9) - for the best views and photo opportunities of the tower

Admission Details
Entrance fees up the Eiffel Tower is 11.50 euros for adults, by elevator to the top. For more details, check out the Eiffel Tower website (see external links below). The tower is opened from 9:30am to 11:45pm every day, with extended hours from 9:00am to 12:45am.

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Colosseum (Coliseum), Italy

The Colosseum, also written Coliseum, is the most famous monument to Ancient Rome. It is a giant amphitheatre in the heart of Rome, Italy. It was built to accommodate 50,000 spectators and was used for public spectacles and gladiatorial contests. The Colosseum was originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre, or in the Latin, Amphitheatrum Flavium and in Italian, Anfiteatro Flavio.


The Colosseum got the name Colosseum from the colossus of Emperor Nero, a gigantic statue that once stood nearby. The area on which the Colosseum stands was already densely inhabited by the 2nd century BC. The Great Fire of Rome of 64AD devastated it. Following the fire, Emperor Nero (official title Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), who ruled Rome from 54-68AD, took possession of much of the area for his own pleasure. Here he built his villa, the Domus Aurea (lit. Golden House) and surrounded it with pavillions, porticoes and landscaped garden. At its entrance he put up a colossus of himself.

After Nero had died (he was forced to commit suicide), there was a year of instability from 68-69AD, when a succession of four short-lived emperors sat on the throne. The next Roman emperor was Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, or in English, Emperor Vespasian, who ruled from 69-79AD. Vespasian was not fond of Nero, so he had much of Domus Aurea torn down. He was the emperor to build the Colosseum. Work on it began around 70-72AD. As founder of the Flavian Dynasty, Vespasian called his structure the Flavian Amphitheatre. As for Nero's statue, he had it remodelled, adding a solar crown to it, and made it Helios, the sun god. The colossal statue continued to stand until medieval time, and the people of Rome credited it with magical powers. A corruption of the noun colossus, in Latin coliseus makes it Colosseum, and was applied to the Flavian Amphitheatre.

The Colosseum measures 48 m (157 ft / 165 Roman ft) high, 189 m (615ft) long, and 165 m (510 ft) wide. It is oval is shape, and covers an area of 6 acres. Unlike amphitheatres before it, the Colosseum is not built into an existing hillside or natural slope, but instead is free standing. It originally consisted of 100,000 cubic metres of travertine stones held together by 300 tons of iron clamps. Much of the Colosseum has since collapsed. Of the outer wall, only the northern half remains standing. This outer wall consists of three stories of arcades with arches, and a fourth level with small windows at regular intervals. The arches on the second and third level framed statues from Classical mythology.

To allow the crowd to quickly enter and exit it, the Colosseum is ringed with eighty entrances on the ground level. Four of these were for VIPs. Of these, the northern main entrance was reserved for the Emperor and his aides. All the entrances were numbered, and this can still be seen over the entrance arch of Entrances XXIII to LIV. During ancient Rome, tickets were in the form of numbered pottery shards. Spectators reach their seats through passageways from below or behind the tier of seats, allowing the Colosseum to be filled and emptied quickly. These passageways are called vomitoria, meaning "rapid discharge", and from it came the English word "vomit".

The area in which performances took place was a wooden floor covered with sand. The Latin word for sand is harena, and this gave us the word "arena". It measures 83 m by 48 m. Below the arena is a maze of underground passageways called hypogeum (Latin for "underground"). It has two levels of subterranean tunnels and cages for the performers and beasts to wait before entering the arena. An underground passage leads to the Ludus Magnus, the training school for gladiators, which also has an arena for training the gladiators.

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