The Spanish city of Barcelona, the autonomous capital of Catalonia, offers the out-of-town visitor the spectacular sites of a centuries-old city exquisitely preserved that blends superbly with the cosmopolitan sights and sounds of modern Barcelona in its entertainment, downtown architectures and museums.

• Entertainment

Like any cosmopolitan city in Europe, Barcelona offers excellent venues for live music and theater performances which include the world-renowned Gran Teatre de Liceu opera house, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya the Palau de la Musica Catalana concert hall and the Teatre Lliura.  The city is also home to some of the finest symphonic orchestras in Europe with the Orquestra Simfonia de Barcelona i nacional de Catalunya, better known among the locals as the OBC under the Japanese musical director Eiji Oue who had been mentored by no less than Leonard Bernstein and conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Osaka Philharmonic.

• Modern Cityscape

From there you can visit the Avinguda Diagonal, the main commercial area of the city where malls like the L’illia in the higher Diagonal avenue is located and the Diagonal Mar in the lower part.  Several skyscrapers abound with the Hotel Arts and its twin Torre Mapfre as the being the tallest both towering at 505 ft followed by the latest Torre Agbar at 472 ft.  You can marvel at these edifices while on your car hire that will make it a breeze for you and your family to get to any of the history and cultural landmarks of the city.

• Specialty Museums

One other peculiar but interesting site to visit is the Erotic Museum of Barcelona and the Cosmocaixa which is a science museum that was awarded as the European Museum of the Year in 2006.  Apart from these, the city is dotted with historic and cultural museums like the Archeology Museum of Catalonia and the Museum of the History of Catalonia.  In addition, there are specialty art museums dedicated to specific local artists like the Picasso Museum, the Fundacio Joan Miro and the Fundacio Antoni Tapies which showcase important works from these world-acclaimed artists.

Most of these museums can be visited with free entry on the first weekends of every month. But a good set of car hire is a must if you want to cover some of these museums as they are not clustered in just one part of the city.  Your hotel or airport has free city map guides that can direct you to any of these places.  Alternatively, if you have a SatNav GPS device, a download on the City of Barcelona can get you driving around town with voice-guided navigation at any time of the day. GP

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