Segway ride through the Vila and the Olympic Port of Barcelona

Description

The Port Olímpic was inaugurated in 1991 at the southern end of the Poblenou neighbourhood, in the area most transformed by the urban renewal programme for the Olympics, and is now home to the city's busiest restaurants and nightlife venues. The area around the Olympic Port was transformed to accommodate the athletes in the "Olympic Village" where parks, avenues and green areas were also created. On both sides of the port, accesses were provided and improvements were made to the beaches to make them the most popular in Barcelona: to the south, La Barceloneta beach and to the north, Nova Icaria beach. In contrast to the visit to Port Olímpic, the second part of the tour takes us to Parc de la Ciutadella, which offers numerous places of interest whose history dates back to the end of the Middle Ages. Parc de la Ciutadella is named after a citadel which, built in the early 18th century, was the largest fortress in Europe at the time. Because the inhabitants of Barcelona saw it as a symbol of oppression by the Spanish central government, the citadel of Parc de la Ciutadella was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the power struggles between the Spanish and Catalan governments. The citadel was finally demolished at the end of the 19th century. However, three architectural remains still exist: the arsenal, now the Parliament of Catalonia, the church, and the former Governor's Palace.