Since setting off down the avant-garde track in the late 19^th century, Barcelona has been a city in constant motion, never finished - like the Sagrada Familia - and much more cosmopolitan than regionalist. With architects such as Montaner and Gaudí, artists such as Miró and Tàpies, the Universal Exhibition of 1929, the Olympic Games of 1992, and the presence of musicians and writers such as Jordi Savall, Paco Ibáñez and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Barcelona has acquired international influence. From Las Ramblas to the Eixample, via the Barri Gòtic and the port - one of the busiest in the Mediterranean -, you will discover an architecture, atmosphere, language and gastronomy that are unique in Spain...

The Eixample (which means extension), north of Las Ramblas, is the city's busiest shopping area. Its perfect chessboard pattern, with 20-m (66-ft) wide streets all crossing each other at right angles, was created from 1859 at the instigation of a fast-growing industrial bourgeoisie. The municipality commissioned architect Ildefons Cerdá to free the city from the medieval walls that were impeding its expansion, with a result that was both harmonious and rational. Then, between 1890 and 1920, modernist architecture - the Catalan version of Art Nouveau in France, Modern Style in England and Jugendstil in Germany - developed in the Eixample, with rich patrons enabling young Catalan architects to give free rein to their talent. As for Antoni Gaud (1852-1926), he gave this "new city" three of its most famous creations: La Pedrera, a building with undulating façades reminiscent of the sea**; Parc Güell, an enchanting place commissioned by Gaudí's favourite patron, Eusebi Güell, and originally intended to be a garden city; and, lastly, the Sagrada Familia, begun in 1882 and still under construction. This now legendary cathedral, which Gaudí dedicated to the Holy Family and Saint Joseph, patron saint of workmen, has become the symbol of Barcelona. Although the interior is still in a rather precarious state, the towers are open to the public and offer a fabulous panoramic view. It is perhaps at night, when lit up, that the Sagrada Familia is at its most mysterious...

Along with Basque cuisine, Catalan cuisine is probably the best in Spain, so it is not by chance that of the 104 stars in the MICHELIN® Guide Spain 2005, 36 are in Catalonia. Traditional Catalan cuisine relies above all on fresh produce; every day the city's best chefs come to stock up at the colourful and fragrant Mercat de la Boqueria, a vast modernist-style covered market bordering Las Ramblas. The fruit and vegetable stalls are packed to overflowing, while the fishmongers present the quintessence of the Mediterranean: bream, bass, grouper, anchovy, swordfish, cuttlefish, sea urchins, prawns... Other ingredients favoured by Catalan gastronomy are mushrooms and snails (which can be eaten in a soup, such as the la sopa de fredolics, brown-snail soup).