You'll find most of Barcellona like Carre St. Denis and Vieux Montreal multiplied over and over and over again. Plus that wonderfully wild Gaudi and other belle epoque moderne architecture.

The bus and metro system is superb, so just buy a couple of multi-day passes for about C$6 a day and wonder around town. Try to get to places like Gaudi's Le Pedrera early in the day to avoid crowds, particularly on the weekend. And enjoy wandering through the stonework of the Sagrada Familia as a mid- afternoon diversion. To better understand Catalonia and the psyche and history of the region, do make the National Museum in the restored harbour one of your first stops, even if you don't understand the language, the exhibits invoke the story well. (It is very much like the National Museum in Old Quebec.) So whether you agree with "nationalism" or not, you'll better understand the cultural and historical things that do make Catalonia different from the rest of Spain. (Sound a bit familiar, eh?)

Barcelona is a walking city, once you get to the various quarters, so take comfortable shoes.

I'll look forward to sharing thoughts about the city when we meet in Montreal in July. As you can read from the other messages, few people visit Barcellona without becoming captivated by it.