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Barcelona
Camp Nou
- Soccer fanatics (and others) need apply
The home of the Barcelona soccer team, Barca, is Camp Nou, the largest
sports stadium in Europe, with a capacity of about 120,000.
Gràcia - Quiet pleasures
Gracia is a very eclectic, unique neighborhood of two-story houses,
sunny plazas, and a bohemian atmosphere, partly due to its large population
of students and artists.
Wander through Las Ramblas
With caged lizards, enormous rose and flower bouquets, decorated Chinese
buildings, working artists, street cafes, mimes, prostitutes, horse-drawn
carriages, and living statues, Las Ramblas is a vibrant and living part
of Barcelona.
Montserrat - Saw-toothed
splendor
The remote monastery of Montserrat itself is imposing -- sharply-drawn
brown brick looms somberly over the grounds, resembling nothing so much
as a venerable university or hospital.
Port Olimpic -
Where the games were held
In 1992, the Olympics were held in Barcelona, Spain, exposing most of
the world for the first time to the vibrant, wealthy city that had grown
here over the years.
Barri Gòtic
- The old quarter of Barcelona
Barcelona celebrated its true golden age during the Gothic period in
the 1200s through 1400s, though it went through a silver age during
the modernista period of the 1800s.
El Raval
Opposite Las Ramblas is El Raval, the largest inner-city neighborhood
you'll find in Barcelona. The plans for New Barcelona are centered here,
and you'll find entire blocks of old dingy apartment buildings being
razed to make room for new shiny buildings, open squares and boulevards,
and amenities designed to make life more livable here.
Down by La Ribera
For years, the small neighborhood of La Ribera stagnated. Bordered by
the Old Port and the Parc de la Ciutadella, it includes the even smaller
neighborhood El Born, historically the home of merchants, and the gothic
basilica Santa Maria del Mar, near which sailors once had their own
neighborhood.
L'Eixample - Straightening
out a city
In 1850, Ildefons Cerda developed a new plan for Barcelona's burgeoning
expansion. Outside its complex of medieval streets, Cerda planned an
open grid structure of perpendicular streets, a checkerboard of city
blocks allowing for residences, communal gardens and yards, and everything
that makes a city.
Pedralbes - Playground
of kings
Pedralbes is the 5th Avenue of Barcelona. The streets are lined with
stylish modern apartment homes, 19th century villas tucked back behind
ornamental fences, and modernista mansions.
Tibidabo - Fun for your
health
Tibidabo is the mountain to the north of Mountjuic, and though neither
is really a mountain so much as enormous bluffs, they are quite imposing
and the best places in the city to visit for fine views and clean air.
Montjuïc - Best view
in Spain
The mountain of Montjuic juts over Barcelona's port on one face, and
on the other side overhangs the Placa Espanya. With this location, it
is ideal for playing. The mountain became the central mark of the World
Fair of 1929 and the 1992 Olympic games.