from leftz'Barri Gotic, 3 Roy L ~Menstoin sculpture beside Barcelona Beach. the View from Park Guell. ‘ Bottom right: La Sagrada Familie
Best bar none
David Pollock visits Barcelona for a quick culture fix
y'crywherc you look in Barcelona. you see
Ronaldinho. Reproductions of the l’(‘ Barca
hero fill the shelyes of each tourist tat-peddling stall and storefront. even in the shadow of Antoni (iaudi's mighty Sagrada liamilia cathedral. which emphasises the eyer-changing dynamism of a city whose cultural history is still proudly preseryed and maintained.
(‘atalonia‘s capital is a Mecca for art and architecture sightseers. (iaudi's eye-popping designs rank among liurope‘s greatest landmarks. while the city jealously guards its historical links to Picasso‘s time there. at the turn of the 20th century. While the great artist took up residence there during his Blue Period. the works which Barcelona and his natiye Malaga inspired were all executed after he left for Paris in l‘)()~l. The l‘tilitliltlti Joan Miro (www.bcn.fimirocatl on Montjuic
also displays a range of modern art in honour of
another famotis local son.
The city streets are warm and crowded. none more so than La Rambla. the tree-lined. tourist-attracting thoroughfare which bisects the city‘s heart. It runs north from the Mediterranean beach at Barceloneta to Placa (‘atalunya at the edge of the liixample district. and bustles with craggy-faced newspaper salesmen. street theatrics and cafés. The street also separates lil Ray'al. the city‘s clubbing heartland. to the east from Barri (iotic to the west.
Barri Gotic ('gothic town'l is the medieyal ()ld low n. a twist of narrow streets and gorgeous. centuries-old buildings such as the stunning Cathedral of Santa liulalia. Located on Carrer de Montcada. the .\lu.seu Picasso twww.museupieasso.bcn.esl houses an exceptional selection of 3500 Picasso works.
El Quatre Gals twww.4gats.coml cafe was the social focal point of An Nouy'eau in Picasso‘s time. Although Preserved in the style of the time. "l‘he liour (‘ats' is not just a tacky tourist trap. A smart bistro with period- emulating tiled floors. simple wood furnishings and antique black-and-white photographs dotting the walls.
it was loy'ingly restored to its genteel. l‘)th century glory in l978. once the l’ranco era had fallen away.
()f indeterminate but ancient age. Marsella in lil Rayal is another must-Visit. a late-night absinthe bar which is similarly suspended amidst wood-embossed. Restoration-era smartness. .-\t weekends it is packed with young students and the kind of historical curio ViilllL‘ which led Picasso and Hemingway to chase the (ireen l-‘airy around these parts.
While the annals don‘t record so. (iaudi might also haye sipped a few there. as the landmarks of .lltlllt’l'lllfi'fllt' (ll't/lllilt’t'Hllllt‘ which dot the City are possessed of their own organic. fairytale hyper-reality. llis Sagrada liamilia lwww.sagradafamilia.orgl is surely destined to be the world‘s most impressive building upon its scheduled completion in 2026 (it was started in lh’h’ll. From here we continue the (iaudi theme with a Visit to his Park (iuell. The Park's west entry takes you past one of the city's most infamous tableaux — a prominent ‘okupa y resiste‘ motto daubed on the roof of an anarchist squat. framing the best \‘iCW in Barcelona.
lilyglobespan twww.flyglobespan.comi flies from (ilasgow and lidinburgh to Barcelona. Hotel Principal. Junta de (‘omerc (003-1933188970. inf‘o(q hotelprincipalesl has double rooms from l l() Euros.
ipanema Beach
SANDY TOWN Can't decide between a
sophisticated break or sun. sea and sand? David Pollok rounds
up some of the other cities with beaches
The busy beach and Old Pon at Barceloneta (head to the bottom of La Rainbla and keep walking past Roy Lichtenstein's ‘Barcelona Head“) is one more reason to fall for Barcelona. although it's not the only City where vrsrt0rs can find sand and surf Within walking distance. The world‘s most famous City beaches. of course, must be Copacabana and lpanema in Rio de Janeiro and Sydney's Bond: Beach. although they're also notoriously the btiSiest. The beaches at Jumeirah in Dubai have their own reputation for beauty. but they do srt in one of the most excluswe neighbourhoods of an already-rich City.
If you don't mind travelling Just a little out of the City, then coastal Lisbon and Cape Town are both well-situated for sand. while New York has many beaches within the city limits, the most famous being Brooklyn's Brighton and Manhattan Beaches (although the nearby Coney Island resort is still all-but dilapidated). Non- coastal cities are even getting in on the act now; two miles of the Seine in the heart of Paris were artificially converted into a beach in 2002. Could the Clyde ever follow suit?
13—24 Ar} "L8 THE LIST 17