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One glimpse of this fanciful, Baroque-style fountain and you’ll probably guess Gaudí had a hand in its creation. Winged horses with serpent tails rear over a mossy waterfall and chubby cherubs giggle at play amid jets of water.

The grandest entrance to the park is the Arc de Triomf, designed for the 1888 Exhibition by Josep Vilaseca i Casanoves. Topping the arch are angels tooting horns and offering wreaths.

These colourful flamingos are just some of the stars at this child-friendly zoo, which also has pony rides, electric cars and a train see Attractions for Children.

In the centre of the park is a placid, man-made lake, where you can rent a boat for half an hour or more.

The outline of Barcelona’s medieval streets, houses, shops and palaces are revealed below this old market. The foundations date from 1714, the year Felipe V and his French allies entered the city.

The Zoological Museum is housed in Domènech i Montaner’s striking building. The centrepiece is a collosal whale skeleton, which hangs amid scores of stuffed animals, including a sabre-toothed tiger.

Roam to your heart’s content among 15,000 minerals, 14,000 rocks and over 100,000 palaeontological pieces, including a collection of Catalonian fossils.

Palm trees and other tropical vegetation exude humidity inside the late 19th-century Hivernacle and Umbracle greenhouses. The latter was designed by architect Josep Fontseré, the former by Josep Amargós.

Housed in the lovely Palau de la Ciutadella, 1891, is the Catalonian Parliament, where Pascual Maragall (the President of Catalonia) and other political groups meet. In front is the Plaça d’Armes and a graceful water-lily pond with a sculpture (1907) by Josep Llimona.

Antoni Tàpies toasts Picasso’s cubist legacy with an abstract creation of his own. Tàpies’ Homage to Picasso – a large glass cube filled with furnishings and abstract objects – requires some mental gymnastics to decipher its meaning.