Barcelona is a fascinating city; you could spend a week just exploring the Barri Gótic and La Rambla, but there's so much more to see, especially if you're a lover of art or history.
The architectural influence of Antoni Gaudí is everywhere. His most notable mark is, of course the Sagrada Familia - that great, as-yet-unfinished cathedral that's as much a temple to the moderníste movement as it is to the divine.
The other major Gaudí work is the Park Güell: another unfinished work made for his great patron, Eusebi Güell. Gaudí’s trademark masaic work is visible everywhere here:
But, for me, the abiding impression I took from my trip to Barcelona has to be La Rambla and the Barri Gótic - that crowded bustling, lively, colourful and thoroughly exhilarating heart of the city.
From the bonkers-but-utterly-brilliant Mercat La Boqueria
to the street artists and performers
it’s just a wonderful place to relax.
Like any city, though, it has its poorer side, like this beggar lady outside the market
or these run-down buildings just metres from La Rambla
Would I go back? Of course - a week is not nearly long enough to do the place justice. Maybe when it’s a bit cooler, and with fewer people around, though.
