I’ve found this Parque del Laberinto de Horta through my Barcelona friend who lives close to the park. During La Mercè festival period, it’s free entrance for all.
Parque del Laberinto de Horta is Barcelona’s oldest park, designed in 1791 by Joan Antoni Desvalls. It is located on the outskirts of Barcelona, in the foothills of the Serra de Collserola, but easily accessible by the green subway line. The park is romantic and there are lots of space to sit and have a picnic. The park consists of two parts: the neoclassical garden and the romantic garden. Water is a fundamental element of the garden and it is presented in all areas in different ways: waterfalls, streams, ponds and canals, etc. There is plenty of shade in the maze as well, which made it a perfect place to visit on those hot Barcelona summer days.
An old castle can be seen at the entrance of the park.
We saw a couple shooting wedding picture in the garden. I think this place would be a beautiful wedding venue as it gets romantic architecture, lush greens, fountains, lovely ponds and it is full of plants and colorful flowers.
看到公园里有拍婚纱照的新人。他们真会选地点。这个繁花盛开的浪漫主义的花园，有喷泉，城堡……很适合用作婚庆。
At its entrance of the tall cypress Labyrinth maze in the middle of the park, there was a classical sculpture describing the story of Minos welcoming Theseus’s arrival in Crete Island in Greece. Theseus’ mission was to enter the labyrinth and destroy the human-eating half-bull, half-human monster, Minotaur. The labyrinth was totally inspired by the myth of Theseus: Whoever makes their way to the center finds love as a reward. There was a statue of cupid that can be found in the center. Let get in now.
迷宫位于公园的正中间。在迷宫的入口处，有一个雕刻画，描述了希腊克里特王 – 米诺斯的故事，米诺斯在迷宫欢迎忒修斯抵达希腊的克里特海岛。 忒修斯的任务是进入迷宫，摧毁一个半公牛半人类的牛头怪。 这个迷宫受到希腊神话的启发：顺利走出迷宫来到中心的人，会找到爱情，作为奖励。 中间有一座丘比特雕像。 让我们进来走迷宫吧。
The labyrinth wan’t that big but it was more difficult than I thought. My friend told me she comes here every year but could never remember the right way to get out. We’ve tried both directions, from one entrance it was easier, but from the other entrance it was much more difficult. It’s also very family friendly as we saw many kids chasing in the labyrinth.
Once getting out of the labyrinth, we entered the section above the Romantic garden, a charming canal can be found (normally full of swans and ducks but that we didn’t see many of them) and a picturesque bridge. I really enjoyed strolling around the manicured grounds.
You must heard that the word “narcissism” comes from the Greek myth about Narcissus, which in Spanish is Narciso. In the park I also found an interesting statue telling Narciso’s story. There used to be this handsome Greek who turned down a Goddess Echo, but fell in love with his own reflection in a pool. In the end he finally changed into a flower that bears his name, “the narcissus”.
欧洲有一些以古典公园著名的城市，巴塞罗那可能并不算在其中。但是我在巴塞罗那的朋友还是给我介绍了一个在她家附近的美丽迷宫公园。而且在巴塞罗那城市节La Mercè，或者一些节假日，还可以免门票。 Horta迷宫公园是巴塞罗那现有最古老的公园，由建筑师琼安东尼于1791年设计。公园位于巴塞罗那的郊区的山脚下，但是过去很方便，搭地铁L3线很容易到达。这个公园利马有很多很多休息的空间，看到很多当地人过来野餐。 公园由两部分组成：新古典主义花园和浪漫主义花园。水是花园的基本元素，以各种不同的方式呈现：瀑布，溪流，池塘，溪流等。巴塞罗那夏天炎热，迷宫形成的树荫很适合避暑。
迷宫不算大，但比我想象的要困难。我的巴塞罗那朋友告诉我，她每年来这里，但永远记不得正确的出路，所以每次都玩得很开心。我们尝试了两个方向走，从一个入口比从另一个入口进去更容易走出来。迷宫很适合带小朋友来玩，看到很多追逐的孩子。
离开迷宫，进入了浪漫主意花园上层的一部分，这里有一座有很多鱼的池塘，一段河流，朋友说通常在这里可以看到天鹅，但是我们去的时候没有看到。除了小河，池塘，还有一座风景如画的桥梁。 在这里散步很开心。
在公园里我还找到了纳西瑟斯的雕像。很多人应该听说过这个希腊青年的故事，他拒绝了女神厄科的求爱，爱上他自己在湖中的倒影，无法从池塘边离开，终于憔悴而死。最后变成了一朵以他命名的花 – 水仙。英文的“自恋”这个词也出自于此故事。
