BARCELONA

Only in Barcelona could we stumble off the dark streets of Barri Gotic and onto the chaos of Las Ramblas, in the midst of a festival: people dancing in the streets, playing music, singing, hand-in-hand with giant paper maiche puppets, robed in the garb of Catalan royalty, and striding slightly topsy-turvy along the pedestrian thoroughfare.

Its just as we imagined Barcelona to be.

The mornings are always a little cool, and the sun doesn't seem to get hot until lunch time. 

We buy a dozen pairs of espadrilles from Barcelona's "La Manual Aparagatera".

La Rambla has just begun to stir, at 10 AM. We reach La Boqueria, which is a flurry of fishmongers, and butchers; stall after stall of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, jamon, cheese, chocolate, bread...

Breakfast is tortilla, sausages, and chickpeas, along with a glass of 'cava', Spanish sparkling wine, at the Pinotxo Bar...

We visit the MACBA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Picasso Museum; stroll past Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, and explore the incredible architecture of Casa Batllo.

In the afternoon, we stopped by the marina, took a walk along Barceloneta.

We could have gotten so lost in Barcelona that we may not have found our way home...

But we only had three days.

And if we had done nothing else, other than walk those dark and charming streets, and eat jamon, then perhaps that would have been enough...