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I visited Cementiri de l'Est, or Cementiri Vell [Old Cemetery], on the blustery, showery afternoon of 18 October.
Cementiri de l'Est was founded in 1773 by Bishop Josep Climent and became a civil cemetery in 1838 (local parish cemeteries were closed by military order in 1816 for health reasons). By the 1870s no more large tombs could fit into the cemetery and the wealthier classes on expiring moved out to Cementiri del Sud-Oest (opened in 1883) commanding a fine view of the sea from Montjuïc.
Laid out according to the eighteenth century ideal of a park, the newer tombs in blocks of stacked niches line the avenues near the entrance, the older tombs towards the rear are arranged more haphazardly, with variously Roman sarcophagi, Gothic shrines and Byzantine tombs attended by expressive sculpted figures and emblems of the deceased. 
I encountered many cats, pigeons perching on ledges and statues, seagulls drifting over from the sea nearby. A flock of starlings (?) occasionally took flight between a bare-branched tree overhanging the north-east wall and a large evergreen tree close to the monument commemorating the victims of the 1821 yellow fever epidemic.
I ought to record here my gratitude to the security guard who kindly indicated the way to the emergency exit upon finding me a little anxious of mien at the wrong side of the entrance some quarter of an hour after closing time, somewhat puzzled at finding me there specifically, but mercifully sympathetic to my plight!
12 November. The heavy ironwork door to this entrance hall was ajar when I first passed – the cast shadows drew me in – but was closed when I passed again later on the way back home. 
More highly wrought ironwork is to be found further down Carrer de les Carolines, at number 24, Casa Vicens (1883-1888), commisioned in 1878 from Gaudí by tile manufacturer Manuel Vicens i Montaner. The gates and fencing are of cast-iron palmetto leaves, on the window grilles sit small forged-iron dragons, and the further linear forms in the ironwork are inspired by plants and Arabic calligraphy. Casa Vicens is a product of nineteenth century Orientalism (photographs by Frith and Fenton, paintings of Delacroix, Gérôme and Leighton, Flaubert's Salammbô, Burton's rendering of One Thousand and One Nights, Verdi's Aida, ...), Gaudí's study of photographs of "exotic" motifs from the East, and the more immediate influence of Mudéjar architecture.
The ironwork gate of Casa Vicens was not ajar when I passed. It wasn't Saint Rita's Day.
Castell de Montjuïc in its present-day form was built in 1751, designed by military engineer Juan Martín Cermeño. A fort was first built on this site in 1640 during the revolt against Felipe IV. A moat surrounds the fortress on all but its eastern side, which overlooks the steep fall of Montjuïc to the sea. Camí de la Cartoixa winds round the western side. Steps at various points descend to the moat, whose broad course follows the irregular line of the fort's exterior walls.
Rounding one of the corners the symmetrical arrangement of shrubs and plants of a garden, and then around a further corner a stand of three trees, underneath which benches, looking on to other lines.
