Barcelona’s Port Vell and Olympic Stadium

Barcelona Column Monument

Port Vell is the oldest area of the Port of Barcelona which underwent massive renovation in the early 1990s before Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympic Games.  A landmark of Port Vell is the Barcelona Column Monument – a column reaching 60 meters into the sky with a statue of Christopher Columbus on top pointing proudly out to sea.  A trip to the top provides astounding views of the city.

The Olympic Stadium was originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition and was intended to host the People’s Olympiad in 1936 as a protest against the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, but Spanish Civil War broke out and thwarted that plan.

1992 Olympic Stadium

For the 1992 Olympics it underwent massive renovation with the help of an Italian architect and in 2001 was renamed, Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys after a former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya who was executed during the Franco regime.

Inside the 1992 Olympic Stadium

The Calatrava Tower.

The Calatrava Tower is a symbol of the 1992 Olympic Games and can be seen from all over Barcelona.  It was built to transmit television coverage of the Olympic games and is named after its creator.