Barcelona – Dazed and Mesmerized

There are a few cities in the world which you can explore on foot and enjoy it. Barcelona is one of them even if it’s a big city to boot. The name of the game is simply to take a day away from the tourist buses and the metros while re-charging you way on the side with some of the city’s most fabulous gastronomic choices.
If you’re into exploring some at Ciutadella, including the Parc de Joan de Miro (one of 20th century’s foremost artists) and the Montjuic castle, and you are already out of the beaten path.

That is, if your legs are up to it. (Of course, you always can pedal your way on a bike.)

Modernism and Gaudi

One of Barcelona’s top attractions is the hypnotizing group of works of architecture, government buildings, churches and others by one of 20th century’s foremost artists – Antonio Gaudi. The most famous is the Sagrada Familia that impresses anyone even without much artistic sense in him.

The others include Park Guell and la Pedrera, among the famous one. The others include Palau Guell, Casa Batllo, Casa Santa Coloma de Cervello and Torre Bellesguard.

Picasso, Miro, Dali

You can follow the artist Picasso’s formative years in early Barcelona. Led by Picasso and Salvador Dali (the foremost leader in Surrealism) who used to meet on art and have dinner with tapas, ham empanadillas pintxos (Basque tapas) and vermouth. At No. 7 Picasso museum, his paintings are arranged in chronological order from his early days to his final years.

Go out at Teatre Grec and procees to Fundacio Joan Miro, one of the largest museums in the world. It contains over 225 paintings, 150 sculpture and graphic pieces by the Spanish Surreallist  (and some of his contemporaries.)

Other Barcelona artists

Today, this Raval is where you need to have some of the city’s cultural nourishment (Barcelona’s contemporary culture center, the MACBA (the city’s contemporary art museum.

The Raval is also where you need to go to get some of the city's essential cultural nourishment, including the CCCB (Barcelona's contemporary culture centre, which hosts exhibitions, conferences and more), the MACBA (the city's contemporary art museum), the Biblioteca de Catalunya (library) and the refurbished Filmoteca arthouse cinema.

This is also where Jean Genet wrote his existential novel, The Thief’s Journal, Nobel Prize books Claude Simon and The Margin by Mandiargues.

Most famous for

The crowning glory of Gaudi is set to finish by 2046. The site is breath-taking enough even if you need not look inside. This was Gaudi’s last work before he died in 1926.  The building’s creation started in 1882 and is expected to be finished by 2046 by public and public funding.

Casa Mila, or what is known as La Pedrera is situated at  Passeig de Gracia, adjacent to Casa Batllo. It has an incredible roof top that provides panoramic views of the city.

You don’t leave Barcelona without sampling the famous seafood. It features fine and famous Galician recipes at Rias de Galicia and at Cachitos, including fried whitebait, squid rings and wedge clams.

Think of the arts, music, sculpture and architecture and Barcelona might just have it.