Barcelona sights: Ciutat Vella

La Rambla ★★★ - La Rambla (Les Rambles in Catalán) is the long, wide, pedestrian boulevard that glides right through the heart of the old city, from Plaça de Catalunya to the port. Laid out in 1766 along the line of the demolished medieval city walls, this boulevard shunts the vehicular streets to either side and fills the broad middle of the path with a wide pedestrian road, shaded by trees and filled with kisoks, street performers, and what feels like half the city out for a stroll... » more

Catedral ★★ - Behind an elaborate neo-Gothic facade and spire from the 19th century lies Madrid's massive and genuinely Gothic cathedral, a dark, echoey space built largely between 1298 and 1450. It'll take a good 45 minutes to see the marvelously carved 15th-century choir stalls, ranks of glowing votive candles, and shady cloisters surrounded by magnolias and palms and ponds swimming with geese. The adjacent museum is stuffed with medieval Catalonian art... » more

Museu Picasso ★★ - The greatest Picasso museum outside of Paris is filled with 3,000 works by Andalusia native Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). There are plenty of those crowd-pleasing (or crowd-confusing) Cubist paintings, yes, but also many early works in an exactingly, surprisingly classical style worthy of an Old Master... but which Picasso painted while living here in Barcelona when he was still just a teenager... » more

Boqueria market ★ - Barcelona's cenrtal covered food market lies just off La Rambla, packed with stalls filed with ranks of round fruit, stacks of string beans, boxes of earthy mushrooms, fish straight from the docks, bins of briny olives, hocks of serrano ham ready for carving, bags of Valencia oranges, bushels of woodland berries, and piles of dried salt cod. Many of the stalls have been in the same family for three or four generations... » more

Mirador de Colón - This 1881 architecural exlamanation point is a monument to Chrisopher Columbus on Plaça del Portal de la Pau, anchoring the south (port) end of La Rambla, Barcelona's main boulevard. You can ride the elevator 51m (167 feet) to the top of the column portion for sweeping views over the port and the city—and up La Rambla... » more

Palau de la Musica Catalana - Barcelona architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner designed this concert hall in 1905–08, and it is the only Art Nouveau performance space to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Take one of the 55-minute guided tours to see the sky-lit stained glass of the inverse dome in the auditorium. Even better, return in the evening to attend a concert... » more