Poble Espanyol

Avda Marqués de Comillas,
Barcelona
Catalunya
Spain
93 508 63 00

Type: Landmark
Addmission Fee: 7 Euro
Hours: Mon. 9:00 am 8:00 pm, Tues.-Thurs. 9:00am-2:00 pm, Fri-Sat. 9:00 am 4:00 pm,Sun. 9:00 am-noon

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Barcelona is such an easy stopover on a tour of western Europe that it is often the only Spanish city tourists make the time to visit. And certainly this might have been the case when the crowds flocked to the city for the 1929World Exhibition. Thus the adept designers behind the exhibition came up with a fine solution to the dilemma. They decided to bring the rest of the country to the visitors. The resulting Spanish Village comprised 81 buildings, each (including the streets) meticulously copied from notable originals spread throughout the country. In many cases stone was quarried from the very same spots that had supplied the real buildings; even cracks were reproduced, such was the attention to detail. Initially proposed as a temporary exhibition, the village was so solidly built and immediately popular that it was left for the en-joyment of visitors and 70 years after the fact remains in remarkably good condition – in some cases better than the originals. After paying the 7i entry fee and passing through a gate modeled after one in Avila’s defensive wall you are free to wander through plazas, past shops where traditional Spanish crafts like weaving and wood marquetry are practiced. Over here you can step into Galicia, then enter the world of Andalucía or Castile. It is, no doubt, a tourist-oriented complex, with bars, a disco and pricey restaurants, but the chance to see a small slice of the whole country for a few euros is a bargain.