Barcelona's pool with a view

You'll find the world’s best swimming pool high on Montjuïc hill, above the beautiful city of Barcelona. Best of all, it's open to everyone, for the piddling price of around £4. To get the full flavour of this awesome outdoor pool, I join professional diver and Barcelona native José Murillo for a tour of the place he calls his "office".

"Every morning I look forward to going to work," he says, as we take a cab from the city along a picturesque route up to Montjuïc hill. "How many people can say that?" This is a special commute, with our taxi whizzing past Gaudi's famous Sagrada Família church, arguably the planet's most impressive incomplete structure. When we arrive, the pool looks perfect. Calm, blue and glittering in the morning sun. We are here as part of the Expedia.co.uk's People-Shaped Travel video series, which reveals unique experiences in cities around the world.

Originally built in 1929, the pool came to international prominence when it hosted diving and water polo events at the 1992 summer Olympics. Since then, its panoramic view of Barcelona has provided the backdrop for a Kylie Minogue video and will host the diving events at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships.

" The view is to die for. It takes my breath away every time," says José. José's view, to be fair, is better than most, as he surveys the city from the pool's highest diving board. While only the most fearless of visitors will experience José's unique view of this stunning space, anyone who spends an afternoon here will agree that there is plenty of satisfaction to be found in simply lounging around the world's most spectacular swimming pool.

1 Match the highlighted words from the text to the correct definition:

1. a daily journey to or from work
2. look at
3. not afraid, brave
4. a taxi
5. hold, organise
6. bright, shining
7. small
8. spend time relaxing
9. setting, background
10. extremely impressive


2 Match the two halves of each sentence.
1. It costs about £4
2. José Murillo
3. The route to the pool
4. The Sagrada Familia.
5. This video of Barcelona
6. The Montjuic pool
7. Only a few people

a. will have the opportunity to see Barcelona like José does.
b. became internationally famous during the Olympic Games in Barcelona.
c. to get into the swimming pool.
d. takes you past the Sagrada Familia.
e. has still not been completely built.
f. is one of a series of short films about different places.
g. is a sports person from Barcelona.


(Video of José’s dive into the swimming pool)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2011/nov/01/barcelona-olympic-swimming-pool-video

Listen to José talking on the video and complete the text:

Every morning, I look (1) ……….. to going to work. I have the (2)……….. office. Even the (3)………… is good. The vibe is cool. And the views, man the views are to die for.
People come here from all over the (4)……… just to enjoy that view. It still takes my breath away.
A good (5)………………. always finishes with a rip entry. A rip entry means that there is no (6) ………… . That’s one of the most (7) …………….. parts of the dive.
My life’s work is about getting this movement right. If I can get this movement right then the bigger picture is (8)…………….. .



Key
1commute 2 surveys 3 fearless 4 cab 5 host 6 glittering 7 piddling 8 lounge around 9 the backdrop 10 awesome
2 1 c 2 g 3 d 4 e 5 f 6 b 7 a
3 1 forward 2 perfect 3 commute 4 world 5 dive 6 splash 7 important 8 perfect