Port Vell Aerial Tramway

Built to wow the masses at the 1929 World’s Fair, Barcelona’s Port Vell Aerial Tramway was the tallest aerial lift on earth for nearly thirty years.

But not long after its opening, the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War forced the tramway to pump the brakes. During the war, the 350 foot-tall Jaume I Tower was repurposed as a machine-gun post and lookout point. The tramway was heavily damaged and seemed destined to rust away.

But in 1963, it reopened with two cabins, half its original size. Ownership changed hands several times until authorities decided to shut it down. Thankfully, in 1996, in an effort to revive Port Vell, the tramway was given new life. It operates today as a tourist attraction, continuing its history as a lookout point—though a much more peaceful one these days.

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