traveldk.com

Barcelona’s most visited museum is a must for fans of the beautiful game. With football memorabilia of every conceivable kind, you can learn all about the club’s history. Work donated by some of Catalonia’s leading artists is also on display. Admission includes access to Barca’s 120,000-seater stadium, an impressive monument to the city’s love-affair with the game.

Beyond the peaks of Tibidabo mountain, this 6,500-ha (16,000-acre) natural park of wild forest and winding paths is an oasis of calm. It is great for hiking and biking (Parc de Collserola), with sign-posted paths and nature trails.

In 1802, the Marquès d’Alfarràs hosted a huge party in these wonderful Neo-Classical gardens to celebrate the visit of Carles IV. Designed by Italian architect Domenico Bagotti, they incorporate a lake, a waterfall, canals and a recently restored cypress-tree maze.

Take the 100-year-old funicular up to the top of Tibidabo’s 517-m (1,695-ft) mountain to visit this traditional amusement park, which first opened in 1908. Although there are a couple of stomach-churning, white-knuckle rides, the real attractions are the quaint, old-fashioned ones, including a beautifully conserved carousel and a Ferris wheel. Here also is the Museu dels Autòmates (Top 10 quirky museums/Monuments), with automatons, mechanical models and a scale model of the park.

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, this heady brew of architectural wizardry includes trencadís tiling, a serpentine bench, fairy-tale pavilions, Gothic archways, and the columned Sala Hipóstila (originally intended as a market hall). In true Gaudí style, playfulness and symbolism pervade every aspect of the park. The Casa-Museu Gaudí, where Gaudí lived for 20 years, is dedicated to the architect’s life.

Visible from almost anywhere in Barcelona, the Temple of the Sacred Heart was built by Enric Sagnier between 1902 and 1911. It has a dramatic sculpture of Jesus and an elaborately decorated door that verges on the psychedelic. Take the elevator up the main tower, or climb the steps to the outside terrace for breathtaking views.

This dynamic, slender telecommunications tower was designed by British architect Norman Foster. The needle-like upper structure rests on a concrete pillar and is anchored by 12 huge steel cables. Rising to a height of 560 m (1836 ft) above sea level, the top is reached by a glass-fronted elevator. On a clear day, you can see as far as Montserrat and the Pyrenees.

The city’s blue trams, with their old-fashioned, wooden interiors are attractions in themselves. The route, from the FGC station to Plaça Doctor Andreu, passes past many Modernista mansions to the top of Avinguda Tibidabo.