Barcelona
Barcelona
+ The City of Barcelona
Sights
Vicinity
+ Vicinity
Walk/Drive
Food&Drink
In The Know
Did You Know?
Barcelona is easy to get to know. It is a compact city, small enough to explore on foot but great enough to be enormously varied. Most of the main sights are in three main areas: the Ciutat Vella (Old City), the Eixample and the Waterfront.
It is easy to lose yourself in the hidden corners of the Old City, to stumble upon a colourful market in a fountain-splashed square, to explore the city's boutiques, or to write some postcards in the geese-filled cloisters of the cathedral. The Eixample is particularly remarkable for the way the great turn-of-the-century Modernists (Modernistas) created some of the most imaginative and bizarre buildings in the world within the confines of a rigid grid system of streets.The city has often been accused of ignoring the sea on which so much of its fame and prosperity has depended. The extension of the seafront began with the naming of Barcelona as host city for the 1992 Olympics. Today, with its smart coastal promenades, sandy beaches, and a plethora of open-air bars and restaurants, Barcelona's new image is 'Cara al Mar' ('Face to the Sea'). Leading from the seafront, La Rambla is a must for every visitor, a bustling avenue of cafés, bookstalls and flower kiosks, the best place to people-watch and to feel the true pulse of the city. By contrast, twin hills Montjuïc and Tibidabo provide a welcome refuge from downtown Barcelona, with their panoramic views over the rooftops to the Pyrenean mountains beyond and the sparkling Mediterranean sea.
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