Take a new look at Barcelona. You may have already seen the views of Barcelona from Parc Guell or Montjuic but if your looking for an even better view from a quiet well maintained park, take a walk up to the Horta-Guinardo area.
Starting from the Placa del Nen de la Rutlla, head up the mountain where you will find playgrounds for any adventurous kid quickly followed by a lovely terraced garden that ends in a hidden forest. From here you will find lovely panoramas of Barcelona and quietness that will make you feel like the hustle of the city is long gone.
This is the start of the Parc Turrons where one can wonder for hours while taking in the view of Barcelona from the northern end or sit on one of the many park benches and enjoy the often missed quietness of nature. If you continue the ascend up the mountain to the top you will run into a small street correctly named Carrer del Panorama. From here you can look out over Barcelona or the other side and the barrio Horta.
On a lucky day you might run into one of the resident “Coloured Pigeons”. I guess many of you are asking right now, what in the world is a coloured pigeon? Just on the other side of the mountain there is a man who raises pigeons for sport and has decided that bright red, blue and green pigeons are much better than our average city pigeon, to which I must agree. My first encounter with the now infamous coloured pigeons came on a lovely Sunday afternoon last fall while I was taking a walk with a friend. All of a sudden a bright green and white pigeon came flying over our heads. We both looked at each other not really knowing what to say apart from “did you see that”? After discussing just what we had eaten over the last few days we continued on our walk only to run into thirty more! This time we were standing above a large pigeon coup where the owner was cleaning out the cages. Not being able to resist ourselves we quickly and very polity asked him how he made all his pigeons different, vibrant colours. Just as quick as we asked came the response, “we paint them, of course!” Trying as hard as we could to control the laughter that was bursting out of us we made our way home wishing we had a camera.

So if you are like me and aching to escape the noise of the city but do not have a car or scooter, try out the Horta-Guinardo area, especially the parks Turrons and Guinardo. Getting off at Guinardo on line 4 of the metro will leave just a little below Placa del Nen de la Ruttla. From the metro head up C/ del Telegraf and take a right on Avinguda de la Mare de Deu de Montserrat until you reach the plaza.

If you are itching to catch a view from the southern end of Barcelona, but far from the hustle and bustle of Parc Guell, take a walk through what many locals call El Pulmone de Barcelona.

El Parc de Collserola is an immense area of green right on the edge of a concrete jungle. (sorry Mr. Marley but I had to take your title) With eight thousand hectares of quiet relaxing nature you can loose yourself for the entire day.
to reach this safe haven from our mad city in which we live, simply take the Ferrocarrils from Pl. Catalunya direction Terrassa and get off at Baixador de Vallividrera or Peu de Funicular.