"One of the loveliest cities in Spain " a Barcelona Travel Page by jorgejuansanchez

Barcelona is a wonder.
All the tourists and travellers who visit Spain love this town, like Sevilla, Toledo, Santiago de Compostela, or Granada.
In Barcelona, a city founded more than 2000 years ago, you will have all the advantages of o big city but not the inconvenients.
The population is about 1.650.000 inhabitants (3 millions if we add the small towns around), the second in Spain after Madrid, but you can walk everywhere since the main interesting places to visit are close to each other.
The tourist attractions are the 12 Antonio Gaudi monuments, such as the Sagrada Familia temple (we hope to finish it in the year 2020), the Park Guell and the "Casa Batllo" and "Casa Mila" in the Paseo de Gracia. The Gothic quarter, with the 13th century cathedral, the narrow streets, the remains of the old synagogue and the romans columns are also worth a visit.
One of the jewels of Barcelona is the Ramblas, probably the most beautiful street in Spain, a semi pedestrian boulevard in the center, from Plaza Cataluna to the Colon (Columbus) monument, in the port, full with terraces filled with tourists eating paella and drinking sangria, shops selling mexican "sombreros" and flamenco dolls or "castanuelas", dozens of artists playing music or performing shows, etc. The Ramblas is a theater in the open air, day and night, because Barcelona never sleeps.
Around Plaza Espana, in the Montjuich mountain, we have the Olympic stadium (we celebrated the Olympic Games in 1992), a museum dedicated to Juan Miro, the Pueblo Espanol (over one hundred reproductions of the most beautiful architecture of the 17 autonomies of Spain), the Mirador del Alcalde (for amazing panorama views), and the Magic Fountain, which during the nights offers a very pleasant show of light, music and water that you will never forget (AND IT IS FREE!)
We also have very interesting museums, like the one dedicated to the andaluz Pablo Picasso (he was born in Malaga).
For another good panoramic view of the city, please take the lift up to the top of the Columbus monument to enjoy a great view of the Ramblas and the port.
Near Barcelona you should not miss the incredible and beautiful Montserrat Monastery, in a rocky mountain, with the statue of the black virgin, and its museum containing paintings by Dali, Picasso, Miro, El Greco, old italian masters and several french impressionists. Montserrat Monastery is one of the holiest places in Spain, together with the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, and the "Basilica del Pilar", in Zaragoza.
Another one day excursion is the Salvador Dali museum, in Figueras, near France, at about 2 hours by train.
For seafood, try the Barceloneta area, besides our beaches, and the nearby Maremagnum with our Aquarium and lots of restaurants. Barcelona has a metro with 5 lines and regular ferries to the Balearic islands and to Italy.
Finally, if you love beaches, you will find them in the same city, in the Barceloneta area, but for the most beautiful ones it will be much better to hire a car or take a train or bus down to Sitges, a few kilometers south of Barcelona, or to the north, to Tossa de Mar, for instance, in the magnificent Costa Brava.

This beautiful monument was erected in 1888, dedicated to Columbus, for the first International Exposition in Barcelona (we celebrated another International Expo in 1992, in Sevilla, Andalucia).
Its height is 51 metres, but there is a lift to the top from where you can watch the Ramblas. Around the monument there are scenes relating the first voyage of Columbus to America, in 1492, and his arrival to Barcelona in 1493 to meet the Catholic Kings, who were there at that time.

A place in front of this monument that I loved very much when I was a child and where I used to play with my friends after school, was an accurate reproduction of the SANTA MARIA caravel (the captain caravel used by Columbus, which was wrecked in La Espanola Island), which was very popular among tourists. But in 1987 a group of fanatic members of a nationalist political party in Barcelona burned it because if its reminiscence of the Spanish discovery of America. (Just for comparison purposes: do you remember the Taliban of Afghanistan blowing up the great Buddha statues of Bamian?).
Fortunately, the Columbus monument is metallic and they can not destroy it, and all the foreigners and Spaniards alike can admire it.