November 2012 - Barcelona

Around
Town
Edited by Eugènia Sendra
esendra@timeout.cat
Born to run
Want to get know to Barcelona at street level?
We suggest three ways to run the city. By Eugènia
Sendra
World decathlon champion Roger
Roca recommends that beginners start
on the flat, and alternate walking and
jogging. If possible it should be green
– to avoid breathing in too much
carbon dioxide – and central: the
obvious choice is Ciutadella Park.
It’s a simple circuit, around two km
in total, which starts and finishes at
the beginning of Passeig Picasso.
The route misses some of the park’s
features, such as the lake or the
Catalan Parliament buildings, but if
you’re left wanting more, it can easily
be extended. Be warned: on a Sunday
afternoon, the route indicated by
green markers will involve a lot of
slow-moving obstacles.
There are plenty of online resources
with detailed route descriptions and
maps – for our second challenge we
suggest a simple circuit of Montjuïc.
You can get to the start point using the
cable car, or just walking – a good
warm-up. It’s a 1.3 km run, close to the
castle cemetery. To extend the route,
you can simply repeat the circuit, or
for variety, try the longer version,
following the perimeter of the castle
and the museum, passing the seaward
walls and the funicular station. The
second route clocks in at 2km.
Barcelona’s city council recently
published Barcelona Corre, by Pere
Bosch and Núria Blanco, which
presents 23 routes for runners. It’s in
Catalan, but you can find three selected
routes in English at www.bcn.cat/
barcelonablog (search ‘corre’). One of
the most popular routes is number 5 –
2.6 km along Avinguda Diagonal
between C/ Badajoz and C/Josep Pla.
You’ll have to dodge bikes and
benches, but you’ll also see plenty of
other runners who appreciate a wellfinished
road surface.
22 Time Out BCN Guide November 2012