Spending 3 nights in Barcelona provided time to visit some of the cities numerous attractions and a deeper insight in to Catalan history and culture.

With a population of 1.6 million, Barcelona was by far the largest city that I’d visited so far on the trip, and apparently the city has the sixth most populous urban area in the EU. With it’s grand buildings, museums and art galleries, gothic quarter, shopping districts, multiple parks and the beach and harbour areas, each district that I visited felt quite unique. The bakeries rivalled those I’d found in France. The Xuixos which originated in nearby Girona were new to me and were especially enjoyable. The subway system meant getting around was easy. I was staying near a police station and besides the heavily armed officers standing outside the door noticed it’s long queues at the reception desk as I walked past. I was glad the place I was staying let me put the bike in their locked storage area where it would remain for the duration of my stay.

Once I’d visited Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia, a long walk from the city centre, I headed to the Picasso Museum in a mediaeval mansion in the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter. This contained a big collection from the artist’s early years and mostly comprised his more realistic and less abstract work, along with many sketches and preliminary drawings. There was also some examples of his later work in the style that he pioneered, Cubism.

Interested to learn more about the area, the History Museum of Catalonia provided a great overview, detailing the story of the region from prehistoric times onwards, and it’s relationship with it’s neighbours and invaders. It was interesting to discover how cities which I had cycled through like Perpignan were once part of Catalonia, and read about some of the myths surrounding the origins of the design of the Catalan flag. With sections about agriculture, trade, the Catalan language, and movement of people from one region to another, it was also interesting to reflect upon these things in relation to the areas that I had cycled through. There was a powercut in the museum by the time I had reached the 18th century section, and I’d already seen quite a lot of the exhibits, most of the lights went out and I left. This seemed to affect surrounding offices and businesses too. Overall the museum was fascinating to visit.

Parc Güell, designed by Gaudi, was situated on a hill which gave good views of the city from it’s highest point. Later in the afternoon I took the train to the long beach on the western side of the city, Platje de Castelldefels.

The Montjuïc area, which overlooks the vast port and most of the city, had many attractions, and the walk up the hill next to the Miramar Hotel through the various parks and gardens was very scenic. Montjuïc Castle was strategically positioned at the top of the hill. The Olympic Stadium, built in 1929 and renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games, was free to visit and the scale of it was quite impressive. Nearby was the palatial like Museu Nacional D’art de Catalunya (MNAC) with it’s enormous collection dating from Gothic times to the 20th century. There was also a good Dali exhibition with a few large scale surrealist pieces, and drawings and photos. The view of the city from the outside of the museum looking towards the Magic Fountain and Plaça d’Espanya was excellent. Official FC Barcelona shops where a common sight when walking around the city, along with plenty of unofficial ones containing Barcelona merchandise, and street vendors were selling sunglasses, trainers, handbags, ornaments and football shirts which were laid out on fabric mats on the street. I took the metro to the Camp Nou (often referred to as the Nou Camp in English). I didn’t go in to the museum or stadium and it was hard to get a very good impression of it from the outside, but given the significance of the club in the city and throughout the world, it was interesting to see it. On match days the atmosphere must be special and bring the whole area to life. The stadium was near the University of Barcelona. There was a large empty area surrounding the stadium, a ‘mini stadium’ next to it, and a large official shop.

The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art in the city centre contained some thought provoking and inspiring installations, photos, and films. The artworks were mostly created by Spanish artists, and exhibitions included “Beneath the Surface” and the work by a British artist, Melanie Smith, featured some interesting aerial photos of Mexico City, which formed part of a larger project featuring the city.

In the area surrounding the museum were some nice independent shops and street art. It was great to spend the afternoon wandering around the city looking at the shops and walking over to the beach area of Barceloneta. A thunderstorm then occurred, so I sought the shelter and good food of a Tapas restaurant before catching the overnight ferry to Menorca.