Sightseeing
All of Barcelona's main landmarks are located in three districts:
- The Old Town (the other name is Gothic District)
- The Eixample, or New Town, built in the 19th century
- Montjuïc, located on the slopes of the hill
It is impossible to see even the most interesting places and visit museums in one day. So, it is better to come for a week.
The heart of the city is Plaza Catalunya. Here you will find the main pedestrian street - La Rambla, which leads towards the sea and is a local lovely landmark. Here you will see the line that divides two districts: Gothic and Raval.
Leisure
Barcelona has excellent sandy beaches, which are equipped with showers, toilets and restaurants. The beach area stretches over 4 kilometers and includes 4 main zones. The most popular zone is Barceloneta, in the city centre, where both locals and tourists like to spend hours. Another beach is ‘Icaria’, which starts right behind Frank Gehry's modernist sculpture ‘The Fish’. The most remote beach is Sitges, which is just outside Barcelona. To get here by train it takes half an hour from Sants railway station. There are many resorts with beautiful beaches around Barcelona.
Food
The number of restaurants and cafes in Barcelona is not just many, but very many. There are more than 20 Michelin-starred restaurants in this city. How to choose? There are two main rules:
- what you want to eat (national, European or Asian dishes).
- people line in front of the restaurant. A long queue is a sign of tasty food.
Barcelona’s restaurants are full of incredible seafood: cod, anchovies, merlin, flounder and monkfish. In addition to seafood, Catalans prefer meat, especially meat grilled on coal. As in Valencia, in Catalonia, rice is highly revered: rice with greens, rice with meat, rice with fish or shellfish. The most famous rice dish is paella.
Shopping
Barcelona's most famous shopping point has no relation to fashion. It's the Boqueria, the food market in the Old Town, located about halfway down the Rambla. Here you can buy the freshest fruits and vegetables, meat and seafood. There is a very rich selection here.For clothes, shoes and accessories, it is better to go to the famous El Corte Ingles. One of the grandest places in the city. It sells almost everything from food to weapons.
Recently, most tourists bring from Spain not magnets and postcards, but something edible. The main choice stops at jamon, turrón, olive oil.
