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Attractions
La Rambla
Placa De Catalunya
La
Pedrera (The Stone Quarry)
A
walk around the Olympic Village
The Fountains of Montjuic
The Grand Theatre
of the Liceu
The Cathedral of Barcelona
Picasso
Museum
Palau de la Musica
Catalana
Temple Expiatori
Sagrada Familia
 Barcelona's
Old city is, without doubt, one of the nicest and most romantic
of Europe. Its small streets, little shops, everything invites you
to wander around, getting to know every place of this charming area.
There is nowhere better to make Barcelona's acquaintance than La
Rambla, the bustling avenue, famous for the vivid colours
of its flower stalls.
Barcelona is the city of marvels. The old town,
comprising the Gothic Quarter, the Ribera
and Raval districts, and famed for its
historical monuments, narrow streets and bohemian atmosphere, is
a perfect place for a stroll. A wander through the maze of streets
is essential in order to understand the different periods in the
history of Barcelona and to admire its finest monuments.
Traces of the Roman wall glimpsed between well-preserved Gothic
buildings, the remains of the Jewish Quarter, witnesses to the industrial
expansion of the 19th century and the design of the 20th. Musicians
in the medieval streets provide the ideal accompaniment.
Barcelona is the only European capital with over four
kilometers of beaches where you can enjoy the most modern
amenities, the beaches are not far form Barcelona's historical and
cultural landmarks, and they have opened up our modern and cosmopolitan
city to the sea. Today, the Olympic Harbour
and the old port, the Port Vell, are
some of the main meeting places, with many bars, restaurants, shops
and recreational areas.
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La
Rambla
 The
Rambla is, of course, the best known landmark of Barcelona, and
deservedly so. Meandering down from the Pl.
de Catalunya to the Columbus
statue, filled with newspaper kiosks, flower and animal stalls,
and all sorts of artists, it is undoubtedly the place where everyone
comes together, both tourists and locals.
Of interest are the Miro Mosaic, the
Liceu (Opera house), and the Mercat
de la Boqueria or exhibition centers such as the Palau
De la Virreina and the Centre D'Art Santa
Monica. When you feel tired, have a drink at one of the many
terraces, try your luck at the Cafe de la Opera.
Strolling down the Rambla, on your right is the Barri
del Raval, formerly known as the "barrio chino", the red-light
district of the city. This area no longer has a bad reputation.
In the Raval you will find many small restaurants and night bars
where you can spend a very pleasant evening.
In Calle Montalegre you'll find the Centre
de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, which houses various
exhibitions and the restored Museu d'Art Contemporani.
Further down the Ramblas, in Calle Nou de la
Rambla, is the Palau Guell, by
Gaudi. You should not miss Pl. Reial,
on your left, with its archway and palm trees (some say the tallest
of Europe). From this square go to Calle Ferran, which leads toPl.
Sant Jaume, where the Palau de la Generalitat
and the Town Hall can be found.
Once in the Barri Gotic, the best thing
to do is to wander round the small streets, exploring them for yourself.
But don't miss the
Pl. de Sant Josep Oriol, with its afternoon
concerts. Pl. de Sant Felip Neri, the
most romantic of the city, the Cathedral with its fine cloister,
the Calle del Bisbe and the Pl.
del Rei.
You're not through with Ciutat Vella
yet. You still have to visit the Barri de la
Ribera, which is down to the right of Via
Laietana, and where, among many others, you can find the
Museu Picasso and the church of Santa
Maria del Mar, the most representative example of the austere
Catalan gothic style. This area, and that of the Pg.
del Born, are rich in restaurants and bars where you can
have a drink late at night.
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Placa
De Catalunya
 This
is the nerve centre par excellence of Barcelona, both for its social
life and its metropolitan communications network. The Placa de Catalunya
was built in 1927 by the architect Francesc Nebot. It has a surface
area of 50,000 m2, comparable with other important squares such
as Saint Peter's in Rome. The fountains and the gardens are outstanding,
but certain sculptures are also worth mentioning, such as the monument
to Francesc Macia and its curious inverted stairs shape. The Placa
de Catalunya is the beginning of the Ramblas.
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La
Pedrera (The Stone Quarry)
 On
the Passeig de Gracia, at the Carrer de Provenca, you can find one
of the most interesting buildings in the city, and the one that
today also receives the most visitors: the 1905 Casa Mila, also
called La Pedrera, one of Antoni Gaudi's great buildings. La Pedrera,
or Casa Mila, is a veritable abstract monumental sculpture formed
by organic shapes. The two patios should be visited, and if you
ask for permission, you can visit the roof, where the chimneys and
air vents form an impressive group of abstract sculptures, making
the visitor feel transported to a spectacular dream world.
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A
walk around the Olympic Village
 A
tour of the Olympic Village enables us to discover this new neighbourhood
of Barcelona, an extremely important part of the works of the Olympic
program. We begin our walk at the Placa dels Voluntaris, in front
of which there stand the two towers, which, with their original
architecture, give the neighbourhood its own character. One of the
towers is the Hotel Arts, the work of the architects Bruce Graham
and Frank O. Gehry, with 44 floors and 456 bedrooms; the other is
the Mapfre Tower, designed by Inigo Ortiz and Enrique de Leon, an
office building with a commercial centre on the ground floor. These
two towers have a height of 153.5 m and are the highest in Spain.
In the Placa dels Voluntaris itself there is a giant fountain, designed
by Josep M. Merce, and not far away can be seen the face of the
sculpture David and Goliath, by Antoni Llena. Further in the distance
we see Frank O. Gehry's Gold Fish, and behind that the Atlanta Gardens,
with the chimney of the Can Folch factory, a testimony to the industrial
past of the zone. Also the group of buildings in the form of an
ellipse, the work of the Martorell- Bohigas-Mackay-Puigdomenech
team of architects, who designed the overall plan of the Olympic
Village.
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The
Fountains of Montjuic
The Magic Fountain
 The
fruit of the inspiration of the engineer Carles Buigas, who conceived
a new type of fountain where the artistic element consists in the
changing shapes of the water, the Magic Fountain was one of the
last works constructed in the grounds of the Universal Exhibition
of 1929. The project was completed with cascades and smaller fountains
installed at various points of Avinguda Maria Cristina. The fundamental
element, however, was the monumental fountain situated on a platform
erected at the end of the avenue, with the perspective of the Palau
Nacional
as a backdrop.
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The
Grand Theatre of the Liceu
The Grand Theatre of the Liceu was built at the initiative of the
Liceu Filharmonico-Dramatic Barcelones. Joaquim de Gispert, a member
and director of the institution, won the concession of the lands
of the former Trinity Convent in the Rambla, where construction
of the theatre began in 1844. The Gran Teatre del Liceu was inaugurated
in 1848.
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The
Cathedral of Barcelona
 The
most distant origins of the Cathedral of Barcelona correspond to
a basilica with three naves, which was destroyed by Al -Mansur (925).
The remains of this basilica can be seen in the City History Museum.
Around 1046, a new cathedral was commenced at the initiative of
Bishop Guislabert. We have few references to this building: it is
believed to have occupied a part of the Gothic building, but some
of its Romanesque elements remain. Construction began in 1298, during
the bishopric of Bernat Pelegri and the reign of King Jaume II,
known as "the Just". The work on the present-day facade of the Cathedral
remained unfinished until the end of the last century, being completed
by the architects Josep Oriol Mestres and August Font i Carreras,
taking inspiration from a drawing from the 15th century by Mestre
Carli.
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Picasso
Museum
The Barcelona Picasso Museum clearly confirms the ties that unite
Pablo Picasso with the city of Barcelona. He did not only finish
a solid academic training here, but the artistic effervescence that
he experienced in the city was the starting point that opened up
for him the path to modernity.
The museum has the most important and exhaustive collections of
the works of Pablo Picasso's youth and education, in particular
the ones he did between 1895 and 1904, the years in which the young
artist lived in our city.
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Palau
de la Musica Catalana
Built between the years 1905 and 1908, this is one of the most outstanding
buildings with one of the best architectural designs of Barcelona.
It is located between the Calle Sant Pere Mes
Alt and the Placa Lluis Millet.
It has a ground floor, a further three floors, and a capacity of
two thousand. Most of the decorative elements are concentrated on
the stage where we find the famous organ pipes of the Palau, the
mosaic of the coat of arms of Catalonia (original by Lluis Bru)
and the eighteen muses with instruments by the sculptor Eusebi Arnau.
The sculptures by the famous sculptor Pablo Gargallo should also
be mentioned. In 1983 the structures of the Palau were restored,
and it was expanded to include administrative offices and cultural
entities.
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Temple
Expiatori Sagrada Familia
 Of
all the architectural masterpieces in Barcelona and in Catalonia,
the Sagrada Familia is undoubtedly the one with the most important
symbolic value. It is the symbol of the modernist architecture of
Barcelona and the most influential work by Gaudi.
The Temple has three facades, one of which looks onto the streets
Marina and Cerdenya, the so-called Birth,
that was built in the year 1891. The second one is the Passion,
with the door of the Faith. It is presided
over by the symbol of Saint Joseph, and includes groups of sculptures
devoted to the visitation and to the infancy of Jesus. There are
three groups of sculptures in the symbol of Jesus: the Annunciation,
Nativity and Coronation of the Virgin. Lastly, to the left can be
found the door of hope, with the symbol
of Mary and scenes concerning the holy family (a rock from Montserrat
mountain, the spiritual heart of Catalonia, was placed on the crest).
The main facade, which faces the sea, evokes the Glory of God. The
Towers, which are the main symbol of the temple, are more than 100m
high and, according to the plans, above them, at 170m, crowning
the central dome of the nave, a symbol of the Saviour will be installed.
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