It’s no secret that Barcelona hosted the Olympics in 1992. The city was awarded the privilege because fundamentally it knows about sports. Not just a little, but a lot. Some of the sports that Barcelona has become synonymous with include sporting activities such as golf, football, basketball, hockey, polo, karate, cycling and fencing. From your holiday rental in Barcelona you can happily view the next planned event, for the year ahead for 2018 offers a vintage car rally (Barcelona Sitges Rally, the Barcelona Marathan Zurich Marató de Barcelona (both in March). The Copa del Rey final – the Spanish Cup Final between Barcelona and Sevilla in April and the F1 Formula 1 Barcelona GP in May, to name but a few.
Barcelona has hosted many key international tournaments and has had first-class teams in many different sports. The city’s Olympic Stadium is not as modern as the 1992 Olympics, it has a much longer history. It was first built in 1927 for the 1929 Expo - Barcelona’s host bid for the 1936 Olympics (but Barcelona lost, and Berlin won the bid). The stadium, already built, was therefore renovated in 1989 – for the 56-years-later 1992 Olympics.
The Olympic backdrop involves the largest building of the Olympic Stadium itself, but you can also see the Swimming Complex, the Olympic Spire building and landscaped walkways should you want to take a walk down history lane. The buildings are situated on Montjuic Mountain. There are other great things to see for the sport-minded visitor, for there are delightful water features all the way such as the Magic Fountain - a remarkable display of light and color, motion, music and water – and the magic fountain comes highly recommended by those who have seen it.
Famously, David Beckham, English footballer, moved to Real Madrid (in Madrid) to play football. It’s no surprise then, that Spanish footballing is hot stuff. The Spanish Football League is just as exciting for the Spaniards (and football enthusiasts generally) as the English Premier League. The highlight of the year for Barcelona will be the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Sevilla. It should get the city bouncing. The Spanish football federation lets reserve teams compete in the main league, yet reserve teams are not allowed to compete in the same tier as their senior team, and no reserve team has ever competed in the top flight, Primera División so far. It’s an exciting concept though.
FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou is its homeground. Since 1957, Camp Nou has been the FC Barcelona stadium and has rivaled the city’s football team. You can take tours also to Camp Nou, but do remember the match days in Barcelona are very special. Tourists and locals get patriotic by donning blue and red striped kits, bars tend to be full to the brim with fans, and a general sense of happiness seems to take hold of the city. This fun-loving feeling is also reciprocated in the Camp Nou stadium itself, the very essence of Barcelona’s football scene. At Lugaris.com have a look and see just how close an apartment or room you can get to the kicking atmosphere!
Camp Nou also offers other delights sportingwise – Basketball, Handball and Futsal (an exciting, fast-paced small sided football game that is widely played across the world). Also, you can see sports such as Roller Hockey and under the section called ‘Amateur Sports’ there is Ice Hockey, Field Hockey, Athletics, Volleyball, Figure Skating and Rugby – so - the list has something to suit pretty much everyone.
If these traditional sports aren’t your thing, then you could try sailing. There are plenty of boat trips you can take yourself and as you sail, you can look up at Barcelona’s wonderful skyline. View from the sea, iconic sights like the egg-shaped Agbar Tower, the Montjuïc Castle, and the bustling promenade. You can help the skipper to sail the boat, or relax and enjoy the view. The trip also offers the opportunity to dip into the oh-so-blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea for a swim. Food and drink are provided for whilst you sail too, so you can really forget yourself for the day. If you are that bit better at sailing, you can hire a boat of your own and there are a quite a few companies and options to choose from.
There is a little bit of everything for sports in Barcelona. Even if you are a runner and interested in running yourself on holiday, one such useful running circuit includes the Parc de la Ciutadella which is an easy route just over 2km (1.2 miles) starting and ending at the Passeig Picasso entrance (it doesn’t go around the lake or pass by the Parliament, but should you want to run further the route can be made longer). You can see, Barcelona is not all about the sun, sand and sea. Its sporting history is a reason to go to the city in and of itself. Sports enthusiasts abound come to the city in droves.
