Barcelona is a gorgeous city located just off the east coast of Spain. The Gothic Quarter is the nerve center of the Catalonian capital. Besides having a typical Barcelona ambience, it is the home of some of the most important buildings of the city. Among the sites to visit within the quarter includes the cathedral as well as the Casa de l’Ardiaca. Barcelona overlooks the sea. The Olympic Village and the Port Olímpic with beaches, piers and an impressive array of museums and leisure centres. This city also offers and array of venues in which business meetings from all over the world are heald. The museums in Barcelona are very famous and hold some of the greatest works ever to be done by Catalonians. The port of Barcelona building is another unique architectural design that shows the gothic nature of much of the spanish buildings. Head a half an hour west and visit Terrassa, where you will see the Masia Freixa of Terrassa. You can also visit the castle of Vallparadis.

 

Head towards Lleida which is located directly west of Barcelona. Lleida offers a differnt look of Spain a more inland look. Some of the impressive architecture includes Seu Vella a Cathedral that made a military fortress in the 18th century as wells as the older Palau de la Suda, both over the so-called Turó de la Seu, a medium-sized hill. The Seu Nova is a baroque Cathedral used since Bourbon rule. It was burnt during the Spanish Civil War. The Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs used to be a hospital (Antic Hospital de Santa Maria) built in a Gothic style, but nowadays it is an historical museum and research centre open to visitors. La Paeria, the city council and also, a historical site with remains and pieces of art from Roman times, and was also once a prison. Head south to Tortosa where you will see a Spanish city that was for Four hundred years, under arabic rule. This is evident in the architecture that is seen all across the city.

 

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Head down the east coast to visit one of the most visited places from tourists staying in the barcelona area, Blanes. A beach town that offers some impressive scenery as well as some much needed leisure time. With all the commotion going on in a business oriented Barcelona, take the time to get away and relax on the beach. Blanes is right near Lloret de Mar, a small city just also right on the coast, be sure to stop in and gander at some of the architecture that they have to offer including the Castle of Sant Joan, also make sure to find the monument of the fishermans wife, here legend has it that if you touch the statues foot while looking off to the horizon, your dreams will come true. This drive down the coast totaling about an hour is worth it, on the way be sure to take in the scenes from the beaches as well as the castles that are built right on the coast line.