Things to do in Barcelona
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Park Güell
North of Gràcia, Park Güell is where Gaudí turned his hand to landscape gardening and the artificial almost seems more natural than the natural.
Park Güell originated in 1900 when Count Eusebi Güell bought a hillside property (then outside Barcelona) and hired Gaudí to create a miniature garden city of houses for the wealthy. The project was abandoned in 1914, but not before Gaudí had created 3km of roads and walks, steps and a plaza in his inimitable manner, plus the two Hansel-and-Gretel-style gatehouses on Carrer d’Olot.
Try coming to the park early on a weekday. On summer weekends it can be unpleasantly packed. Bus 24 drops you at an entrance near the top of …
reviewed
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La Sagrada Família
If you only have time for one sightseeing outing, this should be it. La Sagrada Família inspires awe with its sheer verticality and, in the true manner of the great medieval cathedrals it emulates, it’s still not finished after more than 100 years. Work is proceeding apace, however, and it might be done between the 2020s and 2040s. If the work should be carried on is the subject of controversy, but Spain’s most visited monument was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI in late 2010. The main nave is now open for daily mass. Feathers were much ruffled by the high-speed train tunnel project, on which work began in 2010, that will pass in front of the church under Carrer de Mallo…
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Gamaya
A breath of fresh laid-back Ibiza air runs through this new ladies’ wear store tucked away on a street that has gone from near abandonment in the 1990s to become a delightful shopping lane today. The lady who runs this shop designs the breezy summer dresses, pants-and-tops combinations and prints herself.
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Babylon Idiomas
This small school offers a high degree of flexibility – you can study for a week or enlist for a half-year intensive course in Spanish. The big selling point is class size, with a maximum of eight students per class. A week of tuition (30 hours plus five hours of culture) costs €260.
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Cafè Zurich
It doesn’t have the atmosphere of the cafe of the same name that once occupied this prime spot, but not even the hardest of hearts can deny the location is impeccable. Pull up an outdoor pew for the human circus that is Plaça de Catalunya, or huddle over a paper on the mezzanine on a winter’s day. In summer it stays open as late as 1am.
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Casa Batlló
If La Sagrada Família is his master symphony, then Casa Batlló is Gaudí’s whimsical waltz. The facade, sprinkled with bits of blue, mauve and green tiles, and studded with wave-shaped window frames and balconies, rises to an uneven blue-tiled roof with a solitary tower. The roof represents Sant Jordi (St George) and the dragon, and if you stare long enough at the building, it almost seems like a living being. Inside the main salon overlooking Passeig de Gràcia everything swirls. The ceiling is twisted into a vortex around a sun-like lamp. The doors, windows and skylights are dreamy waves of wood and coloured glass. The same themes continue in the other rooms and covered t…
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Montserrat
Montserrat (Serrated Mountain) is the spiritual heart of Catalonia and your best opportunity to enjoy awesome scenery on a day trip from Barcelona. Comprising a massif of limestone pinnacles rising precipitously over gorges, this wondrous place has drawn hermits (er, independent travellers) since the 5th century.
Montserrat, 50km (31mi) northwest of Barcelona, has weird rocky crags, ruined hermitage caves, a monastery and hordes of tourists from the Costa Brava. The Monestir de Montserrat was founded in 1025 to commemorate numerous visions of the Virgin Mary. Today it houses a community of about 80 monks, and pilgrims come to venerate La Moreneta (the Black Virgin), a 12t…
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Elisabets
This unassuming restaurant is popular for no-nonsense local fare. The walls are lined with old radio sets and the menú del día (€10.75) varies daily. If you prefer a la carta, try the ragú de jabalí (wild boar stew) and finish with mel i mató. Those with a late hunger on Friday nights can probably get a meal here as late as 1am.
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Escribà
Antoni Escribà carries forward a family tradition (since 1906) of melting barcelonins’ hearts with remarkable pastries and criminal chocolate creations. Try the Easter bunyols de xocolata (little round pastry balls filled with chocolate cream). Escribà has another branch in a Modernista setting at La Rambla de Sant Josep 83.
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Museu del Futbol Club Barcelona
One of Barcelona's most visited museums is the Museu del Futbol Club Barcelona, next to the club's giant Camp Nou stadium. Barça is one of Europe's top football clubs and its museum is a hit with fans the world over.
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Bar Celta
Bar Celta specialises in pulpo (octopus) and other seaside delights from Galicia. The waiters waste no time in serving up bottles of crisp white Ribeiro wine to wash down the raciones (large servings of tapas).
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Mercat de la Boqueria
Shop in the Mercat de la Boqueria, one of the world’s great produce markets, and complement with any other necessities from a local supermarket.
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Museu Picasso
Barcelona’s most visited museum occupies five of the many fine medieval stone mansions (worth wandering into for their courtyards and galleries) on narrow Carrer de Montcada. This collection is uniquely fascinating, concentrating on Picasso’s formative years and several specific moments in his later life, but those interested primarily in cubism may not be satisfied. There are additional charges for special exhibitions; entry is free from 3pm Sundays and all day the first Sunday of the month. Allow two hours. The museum’s permanent collection is housed in the first three houses, the Palau Aguilar, Palau del Baró de Castellet and the Palau Meca, all dating to the 14th cent…
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Palau de la Música Catalana
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a Modernista high point and World Heritage Site. It’s not exactly a symphony, more a series of crescendos in tile, brick, sculpted stone and stained glass. Built between 1905 and 1908 by Lluís Domènech i Montaner for the Orfeo Català musical society, it was conceived as a temple for the Catalan Renaixença, the cultural Renaissance of the late 19th century. You can see some of its splendours – such as the main facade with its mosaics, floral capitals and sculpture cluster representing Catalan popular music – from the outside and wander into the foyer to admire the lovely tiled pillars and decor of the cafe and ticket-office area. Best of …
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Fundació Joan Miró
Dedicated to one of the greatest artists to emerge in Barcelona in the 20th century, Joan Miró, this is a must-see gallery.
The foundation holds the greatest single collection of the artist’s work, comprising around 220 of his paintings, 180 sculptures, some textiles and more than 8000 drawings spanning his entire life. Only a smallish portion is ever on display. The displays tend to concentrate on Miró’s more settled last 20 years, but there are some important exceptions. The Sala Joan Prats and Sala Pilar Juncosa show work by the younger Miró that traces him slowly moving away from a relative realism towards his own signature style. Transitional works from the 1930s an…
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Speakeasy
This clandestine restaurant lurks behind the Dry Martini (p). You will be shown a door through the open kitchen area to the ‘storeroom’, lined with hundreds of bottles of backlit, quality tipples. Dark decorative tones, a few works of art, low lighting, light jazz music and smooth service complete the setting. What’s on the menu depends on the markets and the cook’s whim. A tempting option is the creamy burrata di Puglia con yemas de espárragos blancos y jamón Joselito (a huge hunk of mozzarella from southern Italy with white asparagus hearts and strips of high-quality cured ham).
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Liquid
Guys and gals board their metal steeds on hot summer nights to bear down on one of the top outdoor club scenes in town (or rather out of town, since it’s in neighbouring L’Hospitalet de Llobregat). Liquid says what it is. A palm-studded islet is surrounded by a bottom-lit azure moat that tempts surprisingly few folks to plunge in while dancing the night away in this megaclub. Local and foreign DJs keep the punters, a mixed crowd from all over town, in the groove in a series of different internal spaces, as well as poolside.
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Casa Amalia
This restaurant is popular for its hearty Catalan cooking using fresh produce, mainly sourced from the busy market next door. The orange and white decorated joint has split level dining that makes the most of its space. On Thursdays during winter it offers the Catalan mountain classic, escudella. Otherwise, you might try light variations on local cuisine, such as the bacallà al allioli de poma (cod in an apple-based aioli sauce). The four-course menú del día is exceptional lunchtime value at €12.
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Port Olímpic
A busy marina built for the Olympic sailing events, Port Olímpic is surrounded by bars and restaurants. An eye-catcher on the approach from La Barceloneta is Frank Gehry’s giant copper Peix (Fish) sculpture. The area behind Port Olímpic, dominated by twin-tower blocks (the luxury Hotel Arts Barcelona and the Torre Mapfre office block), is the former Vila Olímpica living quarters for the Olympic competitors, which was later sold off as apartments.
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Parco
The Italian love affair with Barcelona manifests itself here with this branch of the stylish Milan sushi-restaurant-cum-cocktail-bar. With a little fusion music in the background, start the evening with a round of bulbous cocktails before ordering plates of sushi and sashimi. Lighting is low, while red and black dominate the décor. Those unlucky enough to miss out on a lounge may find themselves uncomfortably perched on backless chairs.
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Cerveseria Catalana
The ‘Catalan Brewery’ is good for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Come in for your morning coffee and croissant, or wait until lunch to enjoy choosing from the abundance of tapas and montaditos (canapés). You can sit at the bar, on the pavement terrace or in the restaurant at the back. The variety of hot tapas, salads and other snacks draws a well-dressed crowd of locals and outsiders. It has expanded the premises to deal with demand.
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Plaça Reial & Around
Just south of Carrer de Ferran, near its La Rambla end, Plaça Reial is a traffic-free plaza whose 19th-century neoclassical facades are punctuated by numerous eateries, bars and nightspots. It was created on the site of a convent, one of several destroyed along La Rambla (the strip was teeming with religious institutions) in the wake of the Spain-wide disentailment laws that stripped the Church of much of its property.
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Coquette
With its spare, cut back and designer look, this fashion is automatically attractive in its own right. Women will love to browse through casual, feminine wear by such designers as Tsunoda, Vanessa Bruno, Chloé Baño and Hoss Intropia. To complement the clothes there are bags, footwear and costume jewellery. The store is a leading light on a street replete with fashion outlets.
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Caelum
Centuries of heavenly gastronomic tradition from across Spain are concentrated in this exquisite medieval space in the heart of the city. Sweets (such as the irresistible marzipan from Toledo) made by nuns in convents across the country make their way to this den of delicacies. You can sip on a tea down in the medieval basement from 3.30pm to closing time, Tuesday to Sunday.
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Monty Café
Italian-run and nicely laid back, this cafe with terracotta floor, art on the walls and classic marble-top tables has a series of varied, secondhand lounges down one side and a bar at the back. Great for coffee, a long list of teas and cocktails, it also offers food, from pasta to bruschette. It’s a great place to lounge around over your laptop.
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