The Parc de la Ciutadella: the city's front garden
A Gaudí-touched fountain, a boating lake, a parliament, and the brick castle that started it all. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Arc de Triomf
Start under the red-brick arch. Built for the 1888 World's Fair, not for a war — which is why it's friendlier than the Paris one. Walk the wide promenade of palms straight down towards the park.

2. Castell dels Tres Dragons
Domènech i Montaner's brick-and-iron pavilion, also from 1888 — modernisme before anyone called it that. You're looking at the moment Catalan architecture decided to show off. The interior comes and goes with restorations; the facade is the point.

3. The Cascada
Josep Fontserè designed the monumental fountain; a young Gaudí, still a student, worked on the rockwork and hydraulics. Climb to the upper terrace for the view back down the cascade, or just sit at the basin and watch it fall.

4. The boating lake
Hire a rowing boat by the half-hour if the mood takes you; otherwise the bench on the north side is the better seat. The mammoth statue is a two-minute detour west — a 1907 life-size woolly mammoth, oddly moving.

5. The Hivernacle
The iron-and-glass glasshouse, all light and creeping green. It has drifted in and out of use for years; even shuttered, the structure is worth the pause. The smaller Umbracle shadehouse sits just to the south.

6. Parlament de Catalunya
The old arsenal of the citadel that gave the park its name, now the Catalan parliament. You can't wander in, but the plaça in front — with the Desconsol statue mirrored in its pond — is the quietest corner of the park.

The Parc de la Ciutadella: the city's front garden