Cable cars

Something that I have wanted to do since I arrived in Barcelona was to ride the cable cars. There are actually two cable car systems in the city and I decided to go for it last week and ride them both! A new friend, Jan, who I met via Internations, an expat community, accompanied me and we had a great afternoon being tourists in our own city.

The first cable car, the Telerefico del Puerto, is an older structure that takes riders from the port up to Hotel Miramar. There were about a dozen people in the car on the ride up and everyone was standing. We all oohed and ahhhed at the lovely views of Barcelona and the Mediterranean. It seemed someone foggy, but the sun was shining brightly so we weren't sure what the "fog" was. We later learned that it was moisture in the air caused by the cold water of the sea mixing with the hot air on land. Nevertheless, the trip was enjoyable and it was fun to try and figure out where our apartment was in the city packed with buildings!

Once we got to Miramar, we walked to the next cable car system, Telerefic de Montjuic. This cable car is more modern and takes you all the way up Montjuic to the Montjuic Castle. You can walk and/or bike up to the castle, but during our cable car ride up, we saw lots of struggling walkers so we were happy to be flying above them! This cable car holds about six people and has seats for everyone so it was nice and relaxing. The views did not disappoint either! When we arrived at the top, we toured the outside of the castle and checked out the view of the sea which was amazing!

After walking around the top of Montjuic, we took the cable car back down and then got a funicular to the metro station. It was a day full of interesting transportation, lots of wonderful views and fun people-watching!

The cable car that starts at the port!

View from the port cable car.

Another view from the port cable car. We saw LOTS of cruise ships!

The cable car up to Montjuic.

I tried to find my apartment but it was a challenge!

I loved these flowers walking by the castle.

A view from land of the cable car to Montjuic.

Since we were experiencing new modes of transportation, I thought I would photograph the funicular. It is part of the metro system so you don't have to pay extra.