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Photo: Josep Renalias, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This Gothic building was the old city hospital, before the modernist Hospital de Sant Pau was built in l'Eixample. Now the hospital has the National Library inside, and is a great example of civilian Gothic archictecture.
The Old Hospital de la Santa Creu is a 15th-to-18th-century building complex in Barcelona, which formerly served as a hospital and hospice and currently is the home of the National Library of Catalonia, the Institute for Catalan Studies, the former College of Surgeons, municipal libraries, and several other cultural institutions. It has been declared a Historic and Artistic Landmark of National Interest.
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Museum of Illusions Barcelona
A museum of more than 30 room-sized, hand-painted 3D murals built on forced perspective: visitors stand on marked spots and appear to hang from a dragon's jaw or teeter over a painted canyon. Photography is the point of the visit.
Museum dedicated to erotic and sensual works. A huge tourist trap. The tour is not worth it, unless you wish to see old paintings of the Kama Sutra. The only interest is the huge phallus in the hallway, which makes for funny pictures.
Often the first landmark that people identify with the city. It is the central and most famous boulevard cutting through the heart of the city centre — a vibrant promenade filled with Barcelona life at its best. It stretches from the harbour to La Plaça Catalunya, running through the Ciutat Vella like a spine. Come here to see street performers, enjoy the flower and pet stalls, or just sit back and watch all of Barcelona walk by. During the day La Rambla is packed with tourists; at night the atmosphere shifts and the locals come out, along with newspaper and book stands, musicians, and street artists that all contribute to a lively and unique atmosphere. Be aware that the area attracts pickpockets, particularly after dark. If you happen to be here after Barça win, you are in for a treat. A few blocks south of its north end you will find La Boqueria, a very large covered market.
A gorgeous tree-lined pedestrian walkway, the busiest and most lively street of the city. Mostly occupied by tourists, expect to pay higher prices for food and drink which tends to be low-quality and/or inauthentic. Avoid the groups of people supposedly betting on a game played on a cardboard table, they are thieves. Head off into some of the side streets for a cheaper, more local, and authentic experience of Barcelona. Often called Las Ramblas, because it is actually a series of several different streets, the sections also have distinct feels. As you get closer to Placa Catalunya, you find more street performers doing stunts. In the middle, you will find street performers in costumes. Towards the pier, there are artists who will do pencil drawings, paintings, etc.
This narrow street, that starts in the Plaça del Pi has a very special atmosphere. It is famous because of its chocolate shops, where you can drink a hot chocolate since the 18th century. It has also very important art galleries (Sala Parés, the place where Picasso made a dedicated exposition for the first time). You can enter for free and see, if you are lucky, nice expositions. The street is decorated with flagstones that represent scenes of a modernist book called L'auca del senyor Esteve, by Santiago Rusiñol, which is a critic to the bourgeois society of that time and that he had to live.