After 5 hours of class at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Liz and I decided to explore more of Barcelona. We made our way down towards the sea-shore and found el Parc de la Ciutadella. The park was awesome! I think what made it even more interesting was that we had just talked about it in our civilization and culture class today. Historically, the park was a war fortress, created under Philip V of Spain to maintain control of the Catalan Citizens and not allow them to revolt for independence. Now, it’s a large park with a beautiful fountain, a giant elephant (well, technically it’s a ‘mamut,’ but I love elephants so I’m calling it an elephant), a museum, a lake, many pieces of art and statues, and the BCN Zoo. Years ago, the BCN Zoo had an albino gorilla named Snowflake. He died in 2004 😦 I bet that he would’ve been awesome to see!
I also learned some really cool facts about elephants in my class, too. In the 3rd century B.C.E., the vicious Carthaginians attempted to expand their territory from north Africa and the south of Spain up towards France, occupied by the Romans at the time. They brought elephants with them as war tools. Could you imagine being a Roman who had never even heard of an elephant or seen a beast that large, and now they were charging right towards you? However, the plan to use elephants soon backfired. The Romans realized that if you killed the driver of the elephant, the animal would just turn around and run the other way, crushing its own soldiers under its feet.
The trees in Barcelona are quite peculiar. One tree in the park had the weirdest/largest trunk/roots I’ve ever seen! Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there’s anything like this in the States!
Right outside the park is the Arc de Triomf. I don’t think there’s any real significance to this Arc, but it was cool nonetheless.
holafancynancy 