Many of the interesting points in Barcelona are dispersed but some of them are placed around Ciutat Vella (old city). Its narrow streets are easier to view taking a walk. You have to begin as everybody usually does by Les Rambles.

Las Rambles and its neighborhoods
Some people say that Las Ramblas is the main attraction of the city. This heart of the city is full of coffees, shops, restaurants, street artists, live music, etc. Going down from Plaça Catalunya you can see the opulent facades of banks and department store and, after, a squalid zone in the direction to the port that crosses the gothic district and the Chinese district. We want to remark in this avenue, the splendid Mercat de la Boquería, the great Teatre del Liceu and, closely together, the elegant Plaça Reial (XIXth century). This square is surrounded by arcs and it is decorated with high palms and several iron forged lampposts of the young Gaudí. Nowadays, this square is refuge of punks, immigrants, eccentric Catalans, drunkards and hundreds of normal people that eat and drink outdoors.

The gothic district
To the east of Las Rambles there is the Gothic district, an outstanding concentration of beautiful gothic medieval buildings that date mainly from XIVth and XVth centuries, when Catalonia reached the top of its commercial prosperity. The district is centered in the Sant Jaume square, where the seat of the governments of the city and Catalonia are face to face.
Behind Palau of the Generalitat there is the cathedral, one of the greater gothic buildings of Spain. We want to remark its cloister with exuberant and tropical vegetation.
Not very far there is the Plaça del Rei (King’s square) and the Palau Reial (Royal Palace) where one can see the more elegant Roman ruins of the city. The palace is dedicated to the Museu d’Historia de la Ciutat (City History Museum).
In another site of the Gothic district there is the Picasso Museum, one of the most important collections of this artist. Next to the museum there is the great basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, constructed on the ancient XVIth century wharf and one of the more important churches of Catalonia.

Old Port and Olympic City
All the port zone was revitalized at the time of the Olympic Games (1992) creating one of the most extensive recreational zones of the city. On the port, the Maremagnum, has a lot of shops, bars, restaurants, an aquarium, a multicinema and an Imax (3D) cinema, with excellent views of the port (and leisure port) and Montjuïc.
Towards the very high Mapfre towers, taking a walk by the first beach of the city, there is the Barceloneta, a squalid district but with a facade to the sea very attractive to the tourist due to the great restaurants and atmosphere. Under the mentioned towers and next to the Olympic port there is one of the most animated zones of the city. Full of people every day of the year there is a pulsating mixture of salsa, house and techno.

Antoni Gaudí and La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family)
Barcelona offers through the works of Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926), some examples of the most fantastic and modern architecture of the world. Its more famous creation is the unfinished temple of the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family). In addition, scattered by the city, there are some brilliant works of this architect, like the Casa Batlló, the Pedrera or the impressive Park Güell, for example, and several smaller works as the “bench-lampposts” and the pavement of the Passeig de Gracia.

Montjuic, Tibidabo and the Ciutadella Park
There are some other options to be considered. The first one is Montjuic, a mountain located next to the sea, in whom several museums, the Olympic complex, the Spanish town, the botanical garden, etc, are concentrated. You can get this mountain by different ways, all of them very attractive: by an imposing cableway that starts from the beach of the Barceloneta crossing the port, by a funicular that starts from Paralel metro station and next taking another small cableway, or through the ample avenue of Maria Cristina, that goes from the Plaça Espanya to the great fountain of Montuic, that offers a water-light-sound spectacle every summer day and all the weekends all the year.
But the city views from the Tibidado are even more impressive than Montjuïc. Some people says that in the clear days it is possible to see Montserrat, the Pyrenees and the Majorca island. You can get the Tibidabo by the old Tramvía Blau (tram) and next a funicular. In the top of the mountain there is a funfair with spectacular views and flavor of last centuries.
And near the center there is the Parc of the Ciutadella with an impressive fountain of Gaudí, an artificial lake, a zoo, several museums and a good atmosphere during the weekends.

In conclusion…
Although we have attempt to summarize the best of the city in this section, Barcelona has several other places with an extreme enchantment that, at the moment, we will leave each one discovers, although we will try to progressively add more articles of this city, our native city.