barcelona—what fantasies the mere mention of this Spanish city conjures up! Nothing like Madrid, that formal capital city of the Spanish royalty, stiffly locked up in the dusty heart of Castile; nothing like Sevilla, the gentle flower in Andalucia’s bouquet of fragrant gems; nothing like Salamanca, the skeletal cradle of European education at its earliest best . . . No, Barcelona is fiercely modern, passionately separatist in its aim to be Catalan and Catalan only, and delightfully light-hearted, yet seriously intent in its expressions of freedom.

the best of all Spanish modern art and music find their inception or influence in this city where Christopher Columbus received his impetus and still finds his larger-than-life monument at the harbour where Piña, Pinta and Santa Maria set sail eons ago—eons in the context of what this city has since offered to the world.

and that is the best and the most famous of Spanish endowments to the world of art, music and design. Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miro, Antoni Gaudi, Pablo Casals, and Alicia Nuñez among a host of others come from Barcelona. The impressive roster of artists represents Barcelona’s most glorious and endearing attribute—chronologically past, but imaginatively and emotionally futuristic, and purely fantastic if not lunatic.

modernista is a word worth knowing and understanding in Barcelona, for all the efforts to build this city on modern innovations are based on the modernista ideal. When Barcelona’s rebuilding commenced in the last century, the scene was set for the realization of the most daring concepts in city design and architecture. This was the rebirth of Barcelona and the birth of Barcelona.

the city plan was to be on a grid, in which the streets and avenues were broad and tree-lined, and ran parallel. Parks, publics squares, rotundas (rondas) and promenades provided relief from linear buildings. The intersections and buildings bevelled, thus creating octagons for further space and freedom from rigid corners and straight lines. But this was only the beginning.

with wealthy aristocratic clients who wished to outdo each other in innovation and imagination, Barcelona’s architects were free to express their patrons’ daring, individualistic tastes. What a hay-day it was for architecture! It spearheaded a new, fantasy-inspired school of modernismo, an outgrowth of the prevailing European Romanticism and Catalan’s answer to the turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau.

antoni Gaudi, Lluis Domenech i Montaner, Josep Puig, and Josep Maria Jujol are synonymous with Barcelona, for it was they who created the new Barcelona, the modernista city of the 20th century.

how best to see Barcelona? Take a tip from the Barcelonans: stroll, slowly, intently, passionately, down the avenues and rondas, breathing in the salt air flowing from the Mediterranean; stop for a cup of coffee, glass of wine, chit chat at the sidewalk cafés. Muse at the fairy tale buildings of Gaudi and Montaner with their cake-decoration curves and colours. Visit Gaudi’s signature collection at the Municipal Park, the Guëll Parc, Barcelona’s soul, or its heart, the mammoth church Sagrada Familia that still has naves that gape open like skeletal eye sockets. Or meander by the Palau de la Musica Catalana, a music hall that is truly music for the eyes. But don’t forget the Roman ruins along the ancient city walls—an archaic and craggy reminder of Barcelona’s past that once belonged to the Romans.

whatever the itinerary, whether it includes a tour of the Olympic village and stadium, Monjuic with its citadel, museums and amusement park, there is only one word to describe this city of artistic ambition: fantastica!