My partner was very skeptical that I had scheduled time in our itinerary for a "Magic Fountain," let alone the fact that I had us arrive over an hour before the show began to get a "good seat." We actually arrived several hours before the show and wandered the MNAC area at sunset, gorgeous views! Then we found a great seat and enjoyed chatting and watching the area fill as the show neared. This is not your ordinary fountain, the lights and music truly make it a unique and free experience. If you are in Barcelona when the Fountain is active, take a few hours to slow down and enjoy this fountain!

We rode Metro Line 1 to Placa de Espanya. What a busy place in evening traffic! We walked to the Font Magica de Montjuic and having arrived early, found seats directly in front of the fountain. A group of young men put on a dance show as we waited and passed their hats for donations. Gradually the fountain began to send up sprays of water and the lights came on as a delightful show set to music – rock for the first part and classical for the second part – began. It was fun to watch the changing patterns of water, light, and music, and we enjoyed being out among families and tourists alike on a beautiful autumn night. We left before the show ended, hoping to beat the crowds on the Metro, and enjoyed strolling along the fountain-lined avenue leading back to Placa de Espanya and seeing the lighted Arenas de Barcelona, which once served as a bullfighting arena but is now filled with shops and restaurants.

It’s an amazing display from the fountain and the various water features surrounding but it does get very crowded and had been made aware of that from reading various reviews. Because of the crowds we elected to sit outside the National Museum of Art of Catalonia looking down onto the main fountain and some of the other water features. The two main disadvantages were that the music to go with the show can only be heard nearer to the main fountain and we were bombarded with street sellers selling mainly bottles of water and soft drinks yet just behind us was a kiosk selling what the street sellers were selling plus other things. I can only assume that these street sellers are illegal and instead of enjoying the show was being constantly harassed by these sellers with no evidence of anyone policing them. We did see the first part of the show again the following night near the fountain where we could hear all the music clearly but was very crowded the other downfall is that we couldn’t see the display as well as we did on the previous night.