Between Barcelona and Madrid I spent the greater portion of my time in Spain exploring Barcelona. I cannot lie Madrid is the more beautiful city. It’s a magical place, that Madrid. How magical? Well people can basically  suspend themselves in the air.

Madrid was full of the most picturesque streets and wacky and interesting street performers. Barcelona simply cannot match the consistent and unrelenting beauty of central Madrid. Yet offer me the option to travel to one of those cities again and I’ll choose Barcelona every time.

Madrid is a classic concerto. It’s beautiful and cohesive and flowing and well classical. She is fountains and statues and balconies. She is the Prado—full of old religious paintings and portraits of royalty and aristocrats.

Barcelona is free form jazz. Barcelona is Gaudi and gaudy. Barcelona is Picasso and Miro, she is opulently diverse. She is the beach, and the city. She is bordered by the mountains, and she has mountains of street performers all with mountains of talent. 

Madrid is a fun city, but it can be seen–evenby walking in a day or two. Barcelona has far more things to offer. There are the numerous buildings designed by Gaudi. 

There are the Picasso museum and the Miro museum among others. (This is a painting by Miro, you’re not allowed to take pictures so I had to be sneaky.)

There are parks, the beach, wacky sculptures. There are numerous wonderful streets, panoramic views and vistas. Yet Barcelona’s greatest icon may be a church. Gaudi’s Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. 

If it is not the most beautiful church in the world it is possibly the most interesting to see. It is one of the most breathtaking. I considered not putting up pictures of it. They don’t do it justice. La Sagrada Familia cannot be explained other than by registering it up close with your own eyes. Imagine the wildest church you can imagine and I bet it won’t even come close to La Sagrada Familia. And it’s only 60% complete at the moment.

 Barcelona is a town where you can find a little shop selling great gelato quite easily. You can walk along the streets and sit on the steps of a cathedral from the gothic period. You may turn a corner and find a woman belting out world class opera—only to realize that this is the night you forgot your camera at the hotel, so instead of concentrating on trying to film what’s before you to enjoy some other time you’ll just have to savor it as much as possible for the few minutes you linger there.

When you leave Barcelona try not to think about how if you had gone down one more alley, turned one more corner you might have found something else truly remarkable. Just be grateful for the days you had there and all the wonderful things you experienced.