Tibidabo is a high mountain overlooking Barcelona. The name is derived from latin meaning I will give to you according to Wikipedia. The main attraction up there (apart from the stunning view) depends on your point of view- for the pious there is the Temple de Sagrat Cor,

whilst for the hedonistic there is Tibidabo Amusement Park.

Unsurprisingly, we chose the latter. To get there is an epic in itself- the end of the Metro line, then a bus (or tram) then a funicular.

The main park is only open weekends this time of year, but has a skeleton operation on what it calls the sky deck. It has a handful of rides there, including a carousel, a revolving tower affair with a steel basket at each end, a big wheel and an automata museum.

The park is relatively standard stuff apart from the spectacular setting, spread down several levels of the mountain. It does have a selection of vintage rides though (it opened in 1889), the most curious of which dates back to 1928 and is described as the first popular flight simulator. It is a reconstruction of a plane that used to fly from Madrid to Barcelona and it is cantilevered onto a tower assembly. You board up a staircase and enter the tiny panelled interior where you find six narrow leather padded seats each side of the aisle. Once the door has closed and the stairs have swung out of the way, the propeller starts, sounding surprisingly similar to a real prop aeroplane. (That is because the propeller provides the actual motive force for the ride). You make one revolution by prop power, another coasting and the third with the prop in reverse to provide a braking action. Each revolution, you fly apparently into thin air, overhanging a viewing gallery below.

Here is a snippet of our sedate but noisy flight…

I have to say that if the engines stopped like that on a real flight, I’d be worried!

We just returned from a four night trip to Barcelona, a follow-up to our too-short half day visit last Summer. It was rather slow paced on the streets as I can’t walk very fast but we did a lot of walking. Here is a quick itenerary-

Monday

• Fly from Leeds Bradford
• Arrive at Apartment late evening, Pizzas from nearby Supermarket

Tuesday

• A Wander down the Ramblas to Christopher Columbus Column- Closed for maintenance!
• A trip round the Wax Museum- omitted!
• Visit to the stunning Palau de la Musica (1908 Concert Hall)
• Gaudi’s Casa Batilo
• Gaudi’s Casa Mila (La Pedrera)
• Lasagne from the Supermarket

Wednesday

• Barcelona Zoo
• Barceloneta (The beach)
• Paella at a Restaurant

Thursday

• Sagrida Familia
• Tibidabo Funicular and rides
• Noodles in a Wagamama style Japanese Noodle Bar

Friday

• Mini-tour to Grand Theatro Liceu Opera House
• Catamaran trip out to sea
• Back to airport and flight home

(This post was meant to pop up yesterday but I munged the dates, to the where in the world posting was a stop-gap as it was late and I was jet-lagged. It’ll do for now though.)

I spotted this in Leeds recently on the back of a building in Vicar Lane.

The building is very 30s judging from the style and it probably had Crittall metal framed windows originally.

That is a very substantial metal-framed ladder cemented into the wall for the purposes of correcting it twice a year. (Maybe it needed winding once a week).