On our first day in Barcelona, we walked all over the Barri Gotic, La Ribera and El Born neighborhoods.

We really enjoyed the narrow streets and courtyards sprinkled throughout.

We spent a little time wandering around the Santa Caterina market and after some drinks outdoors at a place on C/Vermell, we spent an hour exploring the Museu de la Xocolata. The museum is dedicated to the history of chocolate in Catalonian culture and features several sculptures from local candy-makers.

Next, we made our way to Parc de la Ciutadella and up to the Arc de Triomf. We missed the one in Paris, but this one was still pretty impressive.

At this point it started pouring, so we worked our way back (using large trees to stay mostly dry) to the Picasso Museum to dry off. Neither Eric or I are huge fans of cubism (Miro and Dali are more our speed), but his earlier works is where the museum really shined. It’s divided into years/periods, so it was very easy to see the progression of Picasso’s style throughout his painting career. The museum is actually spread out between a few gorgeous townhouses, so the building itself is almost as impressive as the collection!