As a harbor town facing the Mediterranean Sea, Barcelona has always been outward looking, and rather independent of the rest of the peninsula. The city has been inspiration to both Picasso and Miro, home to Antoni Gaudi’s still avante garde works of architectural modernism, and it continues to invite the world’s most imaginative architects to compose what structural feats they dare.

Barcelona nurtures the progressive spirit, but preserves traditional treasures as well – many of the buildings in the Barri Gotic date from medieval times, and some as far back as Roman settlement. Legend has it the town was founded in the 3rd century BC by Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, father of Hercules. The city changed ownership several times in the succeeding centuries, hosting conquerors from Roman to Visigoth, and from Charlemagne’s prodigy to Caliph Al-Mansur. By the 13th century, the city had become an important trading post and a seafaring confederacy with connections as far away as Athens.

The city has had a long and often prosperous past. But its lively present flickers and promenades along the stretch of Las Ramblas, where suits, painters, jugglers, primadonnas and drifters all carry on through the Catalan walk of life.