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To the north of Parc Guell spreads HORTA , a nineteenth-century neighbourhood in the throes of development but with some quiet spots to seek out. For a quick contrast with the Parc Guell, visit the nearby Parc de la Creueta del Coll (Metro Vall d'Hebron or walk from Parc Guell), a nou urbanisme development by Olympic architects Martorell and Mackay which has been laid out on the site of an old quarry. There are wooded paths here, and a small beach and boating lake, while foremost of the sculpture that adorns the park is a typical piece of concrete bravado by the Basque artist Eduardo Chillida - a suspended monolith called Praise of Water. Other sculptures are by Ellsworth Kelly (at the entrance) and Roy Lichtenstein (on the summit of the hill). Horta's Vall d'Hebron area is the site of another of the city's Olympic developments, based around the Velodrom d'Horta , Barcelona's cycle stadium. Just beyond here, a former country estate incorporates a late eighteenth-century topiary maze, El Laberint d'Horta (daily: May-Sept 10am-9pm; Oct-April 10am-6pm; ?1.70, free on Wed & Sun), which makes a quiet haven on a hot day. Michael Jacobs, in his A Spanish Journey , notes how the entire estate - created by the Marquis de Llupia i Alfarras - was designed as an Enlightenment puzzle concerning the forms of love: the maze, he declares, "gives visitors the opportunity to participate more actively in the game of love, a challenge that is taken too literally by some of today's more eager couples, who use the hedges as convenient screens to hide activities associated with love's more physical forms". To get there, take bus #27 from Placa d'Espanya to the end of the line.
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