Collserola: the ridge and the Foster tower
Norman Foster's needle, a poet's house, and the green wall that keeps the city from spilling over. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Baixador de Vallvidrera (FGC)
An FGC halt that opens straight into the *Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola* — one stop and you're out of the city and into pine. The park information centre sits just above the platform; pick up a trail map before you start.

2. Vil·la Joana
The country house where the Catalan poet Jacint Verdaguer died in 1902, now a small museum and a fine shady forecourt. Worth the few minutes even if you skip the rooms; it's the last domestic thing before the ridge goes fully wild.

3. Carretera trail along the serra
Pick up the broad track that runs the *serra* (ridge) — holm oak and pine, the city glimpsed in flashes through the trees on your right, the Vallès plain opening on your left. Flat enough to talk on, long enough to forget the time.

4. Torre de Collserola
Norman Foster's 1992 communications tower — a steel needle guyed to the ridge, with a glass lift that runs to a viewing deck near the top in under two minutes. Opening hours are limited (broadly Wed–Sun midday); check before counting on the climb.

5. Pantà de Vallvidrera
A small nineteenth-century reservoir held in the woods, dragonflies over the water, a café-restaurant on the bank. The turnaround point and the prettiest place on the walk to sit for ten minutes.

6. Peu del Funicular (FGC)
Drop down through Vallvidrera to the base of the *funicular*, which links straight onto the FGC line back into town. If your legs are done, ride the funicular's lower section down to the platform rather than walking the last hill.

Collserola: the ridge and the Foster tower