How to use the metro
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The Metro (subway) is the easiest way to get around Barcelona. The closest Metro station is Maria Cristina. To get there, walk to the left along the grand Avenida Diagonal for 5-10 minutes, and walk down the stairs into the Metro.
On all your trips, you will be starting out on the L3 line, in the direction of Trinitat Nova.
Here is the full Metro map of the city:
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You can buy tickets with a credit card. For our purposes, use the single one-way journey option. Note that tickets include the ability to transfer within 75 minutes to another type of public transport, including bus or the funicular (cable car) that we will use to go to the castle:
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And this last
screen does NOT mean you made a mistake -- it is just telling you that you can "refill" your ticket, so don't throw it away. Meanwhile, you have to wait about 10 seconds for each, separate ticket to print out.
In both the Metro and at our Wednesday and Thursday attractions, I have been told you should WATCH OUT FOR PICKPOCKETS
how to get to montjuic castle
DON'T FORGET TO WEAR YOUR BADGE, OR YOU WON'T GET YOUR PASSES OR GET ADMITTED!
Thursday we will be going to Montjuic Castle, a beautiful location near the harbor.
Montjuïc Castle is a historic fortress built in 1640 on top of Montjuïc Hill in Barcelona. The castle offers panoramic views of the city, coastline, and the Mediterranean Sea.
On Thursday, our technical program ends at 16:00, which gives us time to get to the castle in time for our scheduled visit. We will meet in the lobby at 16:15 to walk to the Metro at Maria Cristina, then take the Metro to the bottom of the funicular (cable car), which we will ride halfway up the hill to the teleferico (gondola car / skyride). Then we take the teleferico the rest of the way up the hill to the castle.
The subway ride .png)
for this event is very simple. Take Metro Line L3 from Maria Cristina to Paral·lel (7 stops) and leave the subway to walk to the nearby funicular (cable car) station. Be sure to save the ticket you just used on the subway -- it is valid for your connection
The necessary timing is that we need you to try and get to the teleferico by 17:30, which is when we have our reservation.
The individual gondola cars have a maximum capacity of 8 people per cabin, so it is important to be on time to allow everyone to ride up to the castle, as the interior closes at 19:00.
Even so the exterior area is very beautiful to visit after this hour, with exceptional pictures of the Barcelona harbor and landscape from there.
The voucher that we will give you for the teleferico is valid for entry to the castle (it is a combined ticket).
Getting to the El Xalet de Montjuic restaurant
After our visit to the castle, we will go to El Xalet de Montjuic, for our group dinner.
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Our dinner reservation is scheduled for 20:00 at 20h at Xalet de Montjuïc (Av. Miramar 31). The restaurant is near the bottom of the teleferico ride, above the funicular station.
The teleferico stops running at 19:00, the same time the castle closes. Until then, you can use your round trip teleferico ticket to get down to the restaurant.
After 19:00, it is about a 15 minute walk down the hill to the restaurant.
There are 180 pre-booked seats in the restaurant. The menu includes 17 different dishes to share.
If we leave the restaurant before 22:00, we c.png)
an take the funicular back down to the Paral·lel Metro station, after that it is about a 15-20 minute walk down the hill.
Once we get to the Metro, we ride from Paral·lel back to Maria Cristina, and walk to the hotel.