Barcelona layers a Roman and medieval core against a nineteenth-century grid built at the height of Catalan modernisme, and then runs the whole thing down to a beach. That contrast — the tight lanes of the Gothic Quarter against the wide blocks of the Eixample — is what a good city tour is really showing you.
Barcelona layers a Roman and medieval core against a nineteenth-century grid built at the height of Catalan modernisme, and then runs the whole thing down to a beach. That contrast — the tight lanes of the Gothic Quarter against the wide blocks of the Eixample — is what a good city tour is really showing you.
Orientation walks cover the old town in a few hours; longer tours add Gaudí’s buildings, Montjuïc, or the food markets. Catalan identity is a live subject here, and the better guides address it rather than avoiding it.
