The Serra de Collserola (), or simply Collserola, is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

between the rivers Besòs and

Llobregat The Llobregat () is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain, after the Ter. It flows into the Mediterranean south of the city of Barcelona. Its name could have originated in an ancient Latin word meaning 'dark', 'sorrowful' or 'muddy', or ...

. It is part of the

Catalan Coastal Range The Catalan Coastal Range ( ca, Serralada Litoral Catalana, ) is a system of mountain ranges running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea coast in Catalonia, Spain. It is part of the Catalan Mediterranean System. Its main axis runs between the ...

. These mountains separate

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

from the

Vallès El Vallès (or simply Vallès) is a historical county in Catalonia, Spain, located in the center of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range. It is nowadays represented by two separate administrative divisions ( ''comarques'') which are part of the Barcel ...

plain and their tallest peak is the Tibidabo, at 512 m. Other main summits are: Turó del Puig, Puig d'Olorda, Turó de Valldaura, Turó de la Magarola,

Puig d'Ossa Puig () is a word of Catalan origin, meaning "hill". Hence, in Catalan-speaking areas, it appears in the names of numerous people and geographical features: Geographical features * Puig-l'agulla, a mountain of Catalonia *Puig de l'Àliga (Sant P ...

, and Puig Madrona. The valleys of the Llobregat and Besós Rivers, the plain of Barcelona, and the Vallès basin, mark the geographical boundaries of the Collserola massif.

Collserola Park

Muntanya de Sant Pere Màrtir - Serra de Collserola

To preserve the area, in 1987 the Parc de Collserola (Collserola Park), which has an area of 84.65 km², was established.Decret de 19 d'octubre de 2010, de declaració del Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola i de les reserves naturals parcials de la Font Groga i de la Rierada-Can Balasc
/ref> It is one of the largest metropolitan parks in the world - 8 times larger than the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...

in Paris, and 22 times larger than

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

in New York. In the park, over a thousand major plants and around thirty plant communities have been catalogued; including forests of Aleppo pines and nut pines, evergreen oaklands, riverside copses, maquis and scrublands, brush, and savannah grasslands. This diversity allows for the existence of a rich, varied wildlife; including wild boar, genets, stone marten, badger, rabbit, and squirrel; blue tits, whitethroats, treecreepers, woodpeckers, bee eaters, doves, goshawks, sparrow hawks, and rat-catching eagles; salamanders, newts, green tree frogs, the small southern frog, toads, the small spotted toad, the Mediterranean turtle, the giant turtle, the ocellated lizard, snakes, and so on. On the Vilana hill, of 445 m, stands the Torre de Collserola (Collserola Tower), a telecommunications tower built in 1992 for the use of Olympic games. It is 288.4 m and was built by the British architect

Sir Norman Foster ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

. The Collserola Park is used extensively by the inhabitants of Barcelona and the other towns that border it. It is popular for walking, cycling and birdwatching. There are numerous restaurants where families go during the weekends. A path that follows the ridge of the Serra, known as the "Carretera de les Aigües" (Water Road), has been extensively improved for cyclists. The Barcelona city plan intends to include it in a cycle track that completely circles the city.

References

External links

Parc de Collserola
{{Authority control Geography of Barcelona Collserola