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Somewhere for the Weekend: Barcelona

Antoni Gaudi created some of Europe's most stunning architecture, and now is the time to see the impact he left on the Catalan capital, says John Gill

Wednesday 22 May 2002 00:00 BST
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WHY GO NOW?

It is International Gaudi Year in Barcelona. The city was the home of eccentric fin de siècle architect Antoni Gaudi i Cornet. Celebrations have just begun (they end in September) and the crowds have yet to descend. Some buildings such as the fairy-tale Casa Batllo are being opened (in part, at least) to the public for the first time in 100 years, and there are more than 50 other events besides. Visit the website www.gaudi2002.bcn.es for the full gen.

DOWN PAYMENT

British Airways (0845 77 333 77, www.ba.com) flies from Gatwick and Heathrow from £130, and Iberia (0845 601 2854, www.iberia.com) from Heathrow and Manchester from £125. The no-frills airlines also serve the city: easyJet (0870 600 0000, www.easyJet. com) from Luton, Gatwick and Liverpool from £45 return; Go (0870 60 76543, www.go-fly.com) from Bristol and Stansted from £63 return; and bmibaby (0870 264 2229, www.bmibaby.com) from East Midlands airport from £65 return.

INSTANT BRIEFING

There's a tourist office at Barcelona's Llobregat airport. From the airport to the city centre, buses run every 15 minutes between 6am and midnight from outside the arrivals building; they stop several times on the way to the Placa de Catalunya. Tickets cost €3.15 (£2) one-way, and the journey takes half an hour. The airport has its own rail station, with trains every half-hour to Sants and Placa de Catalunya stations.

The main tourist office (free maps galore) is at the top of the Ramblas (9am-9pm). Metro stations sell travel passes (adults from €4.10/£2.50), for one to five days that can be used both on the Metro or bus. Barcelona's marvellous Metro – safe, clean, efficient – can be used to visit all the Gaudi sights, although to get to Park Guell is a bit of a trek.

The Bus Turistic (adults from €14/£8.80) has two routes; the red one visits all the important Gaudi sites. There are discounts on tourist attractions, including the Sagrada Familia (€5/£3.15) Casa Mila ("La Pedrera", "the quarry", €4.80/£3) and others available from the tourism offices.

Hours for museums, shops, restaurants and bars follow the Spanish norm of 9am-2pm, 5pm-late, although restaurants stay open longer. Museums and other tourist attractions often close Mondays. Shops close lunchtime Saturday.

REST ASSURED

The dream destination is the 44-storey luxury Hotel Arts Barcelona (00 34 93 221 1000, www.harts.com) which has doubles from €350 (£221). Another luxury option is the Hotel Ritz. A cheaper option is the Hotel Gaudi, (00 34 93 317 9032, www.hotelgaudi.es) smack opposite the Palau Guell off the Ramblas and echoing the Park Guell designs in its interior, which has doubles from €121 (£76). A pleasant option, in a small square near the Museum of Contemporary Art, is the Hotel Aneto (00 34 93 301 9989) which has doubles from €72 (£45).

MUST SEE

The Casas Mila and Batllo (both Passeig de Gracia) are Gaudi's secular triumphs. Climb to the top of his bizarre Park Guell (10am-9pm; free) for stunning views over the city and to Montjuic park. The Palau Guell (carrer nou de la Rambla, €2.40), built for Gaudi's mentor, tycoon Eusebi Guell, is the most bombastic: all heavy marbles and claustrophobic parlours, but the roof is a riot of surreal form and colour (tours start hourly). Nip out to see the dragon gate of the Pavilions Guell, possible inspiration for the monster in Alien (the Pavilions, "pabellons" in Catalan, have their own Metro station). Then it has to be the beautiful Miro Foundation museum up in Montjuic itself: a large airy building much bigger than the Miro Foundation museum on Mallorca, with many of the larger works and views over the city. If you like your modern art austere but interesting, the Museum of Contemporary Art (carrer dels Angels) often has challenging exhibits by perverse Spanish minimalists. Also check out Gaudi's fellow modernistas: Domenich i Montaner's dazzling Palau de Musica Catala (carrer Sant Pere Mes Alt; phone to check for guided tours: 00 34 93 268 1000) is the highlight.

Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece is El Templo Expiatorio de la Familia Sagrada (9am-8pm) – the expiatory church of the holy family, expiating for the untold sins of industrialised 19th-century Barcelona. Early evening is the best time to visit.

MUST BUY

Cheeses, meats, olives (take a picnic to the Park Guell) from the wrought-iron La Boqueria market (Ramblas, 9am-8pm); cheap CDs in indie music stores such as Planet Music on carrer Mallorca; beautiful pottery, glass and jewellery from the gallery below La Pedrera; pottery figures of Gaudi's salamander fountain. Then a copy of poet Jacint Verdaguer's legendary slender tome, L'Atalantida, the key text in the Catalanist creation myth, which informs Gaudi's work (it inspired the dragon gate) and the 19th-century Catalanist movement itself. Those with more recherché tastes might consider a counterfeit T-shirt of Homer Simpson visiting the Sagrada in a Superman outfit.

MUST EAT

The Barrio Xino – Chinese Quarter – west of the Ramblas and once a fairly risky place to venture at night, has been cleaned up (but still take care) and is stuffed with small family and student bars and restaurants. Cal Lluis, Cera 49 (00 34 93 441 1187; but not really a place where you book) is one: hearty Barcelonan fare at its most authentic. Moving upmarket, the smart Thalassa (Mallorca 259, 00 34 93 467 4611) is attached to a hotel but has a knockout mix of Catalan and international cuisine. The fashionable flock to Silvestre (calle Santalo 101, 00 34 93 241 4031) for its novel spin on Spanish nueva cocida.

INTO THE NIGHT

Nobody really goes clubbing until the madrugada – the wee hours. Clubs do open earlier (when it's cheaper to get in) but you're going to pay more than street bar prices wherever you go. Torres de Avila (Avinguda Marques de Comillas) up in Montjuic is expensive but has a stunning setting. Otto Zutz (carrer de Lincoln) is Barcelona's Studio 54: dress code and doormen with attitude. Razzmatazz (carrer dels Almogavers) is a big warehousy club on various levels. For the gay scene head to Metro (carrer Sepulveda), Arena (carrer Balmes) which offers access to two other clubs, and La Rosa (carrer Brusi).

A final word on personal safety: Barcelona is improving, but keep an eye on your bag.

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