Tamara Thiessen - Insight Guides Experience Barcelona

How To Use This E-Book

This Experience guide has been produced by the editors of Insight Guides, whose books have set the standard for visual travel guides since 1970. With top-quality photography and authoritative recommendations, these highly visual guidebooks are designed to appeal to well-informed, sophisticated travellers looking for fresh insights into their chosen destination.

In the Mood For

The In the Mood for section is filled with suggestions, all grouped by mood, whether youre seeking the best place for lunch or where to get the finest views across the city. Each individual suggestion is cross-referenced to the main selection of recommendations, where they are given full coverage.

Neighbourhoods

Every guide offers a collection of over 100 ideas for a memorable stay in a city, organised by neighbourhood, compiled by writers who know the city inside out. Travellers can browse a city area and find inspiration, with plenty of secret gems in the mix, backed up by clear mapping and a wealth of practical information.

Getting around the e-book

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information

Maps

All key attractions and sights mentioned in the text are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of the destination. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Barcelona Overview

Idyllically nestled between the mountains and the sea, the vibrant, daringly modern city of Barcelona offers everything from Gothic treasures to trendy bars, innovative architecture and exquisite food.

The same things that attracted the Romans to the coastal settlement of Barcino in the 2nd century BC continue to draw people in droves, only now there is the added bonus of Barcelonas contemporary art and design and world-renowned architecture.

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The proximity to the sea has brought about cosmopolitanism, a mix of fascinating cultures and an outward-looking people. The Middle Ages maritime legacy enriched the city with enduring Gothic beauty and a labyrinth of characterful winding lanes in its charming inner barrios. Breaking out of its medieval confines only in the mid-19th century, the sea brought change and exoticism to Barcelona, reflected in its most iconic architecture, Catalan Modernisme. Gaud and his Catalan art nouveau contemporaries mixed oriental and Moorish influences with sea motifs and curvy wave-like walls.

Radiating out from the waterfront and the Old Town, Ciutat Vella, to the new neighbourhoods developed in the 19th century, the city is dotted with dozens of parks and gardens. Beyond, the chain of hills and mountains form a reassuring protective wall. This is a rare example of an urban and natural paradise rolled into one, where history, phenomenal art and architecture, Catalan culinary traditions, a deep social fibre, edgy contemporary culture and the sea all contribute to a harmonious ensemble. Ildefonso Falcones 2009 novel The Cathedral of the Sea is set in the 14th century against the backdrop of the construction of the Gothic church of Santa Maria del Mar near Barcelonas port, and evokes what a primordial place the sea has in the city. The sea itself is a cathedral of kinds in Barcelona, a mighty and all-pervading presence which moulds everyday life, modern lifestyles, just as it shaped the history of the Catalan capital.

In the Mood for

HISTORY

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Barcelonas ancient history is packed into the Ciutat Vella, the Old Town. Lying within the boundary of the old city wall, it comprises four neighbourhoods: Barri Gtic, El Raval, Barceloneta, and Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, which in turn includes the trendy El Born district. Here you will find layers of Roman, medieval-Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque history starting with the precious vestiges of the Roman city of Barcino (for more information, ), which was founded by a queen.

VIEWS

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Barcelona is awash with lofty views, from the miradores of the Montjuc gardens (for more information, ) have sweeping views across the marina of Villa Olmpica to the iconic Torre Agbar.

Barcelona has a knack of combining museums with great views, notably at the rooftop cafs and bars of the portside Museu dHistria de Catalunya (for more information, ).

ART

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Barcelona is a city where art and architecture blend in to the most spectacular effect. There is art in everything Gaud, from his LEixample landmarks (for more information, ) are as exquisite outside as they are inside.

For classical art and art history, the place to go is the Museu Nacional dArt de Catalunya (for more information, ), the national picture gallery housed within Montjucs Palau Nacional. At the other end of the spectrum is El Born , Picasso-land (for more information, click here) but also host to a range of private galleries from the sedate to the more outlandish.

Hit the art gallery trail following sign-posted itineraries promoted by Art Barcelona (for more information, ), an association of galleries. Various art routes link all major galleries and institutions, with either tangible maps available in hotels or interactive digital maps.