Top Things To Do In Barcelona (Part 2)

La Ramblas

You cannot miss this famous street of Barcelona. On any given day, this street is packed with lots of shoppers and tourists. Sometimes, you will even walk shoulders to shoulders with strangers on this street especially during evening time when the locals are off work and during festive season.

The street is lined with high street fashion shops, restaurants, hotels, theatre, church, erotica museum, La Boqueria Market, small carts selling anything from flowers to souvenirs, street artists and drinking fountain.

If you like shopping, this is the place to go. Spanish brands such as Mango, Zara, Desigual, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Springfield and many more to choose from. Remember to claim your tourist tax refund if your purchases are above EUR 90.15 and you can save up to 21% of your purchases.

However, if you just want to do some people watching or feel the jam pack human traffic in Barcelona, this is the best place to be.

La Boqueria Market

This market is in the middle of the famous La Rambla street in Barcelona. It holds a lot of different things like fruit juice, vegetables, sweets, dried hams, olives, seafood, meats etc.I had been to other markets before and this is by far the most colorful and vibrant market I have come across.

You can hear store owners promoting their products with great enthusiasm. Their product display in a way that it makes all of them look photo-snapping worthy. And it also makes those food (be it raw or cooked), sweets and juices look amazingly tasty. They are visually and sensory stimulating to the customers. Take a look at the photos.

National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC)

This museum is on top of Montjuic hill, looking down at the Placa d’Espanya and Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina. The two Venetian Towers are significant landmarks at the junction between the avenue and Placa d’Espanya.

Along the avenue towards the museum, you can see lots of fountains. And it will lead to the grand fountain, The Magical Fountain of Montjuic (have been featured in my previous blog post).

In this one of the largest museum in Spain, the collection of arts is separated by different locations in the museum. I like the fact that the museum take the effort to organise the same category of paintings and drawings in the same location, so I can see all the similarities of the paintings and drawings in the same period or same pattern.

The Medieval Romanesque Art is my favourite. This collection is display in mural painting and panel painting. So when you walk down the aisle of the collection, you can see each painting on its own wall and ceiling, like you are inside a stone house. There is also a documentary video about how the experts transfer the paintings from churches to the wall and ceiling of this museum for display.

There are other collection such as Medieval Gothic Art, Renaissance and Baroque Art, Modern Art, photography etc.

There is the admission fee for the museum. However the admission is free on every Saturday from 3pm onwards and the first Sunday of each month.

These are some of the highlights of Barcelona. If you plan to visit Barcelona, do go visit these places and see for yourself. I believe you will not be disappointed.