http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19163
First and foremost: the landscape. You can see it coming from a mile off; weird bulbous rock formations bulging out.

On the way up, there's a fantastic Romanesque chapel with amazing frescoes, and the whole area is riddled with hermits' caves.

The church itself is vast, 1000m above sea-level, and (oddly) reassuringly hideous in scale and detail.

Still, it's a mighty impressive spectacle and the surrounding countryside is simply breathtaking.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19163 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18961 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18961 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16507
If you are interested you can check out their site to see where you can get the card and where you can get discounts - I think it is a must in an expensive but amazing city like Barcelona.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16507 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14308 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14308 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10922
Running from Placa de Catalunya down to the port area, La Rambla is a place for people to stroll, meet, pass through, trade, eat, drink, people watch and be entertained. And if you think it's busy wandering down its length at midday return at midnight when it's even livelier.

Entertainment comes in the form of buskers and street performers of the 'living statue' type - give them some coins and they'll perform for you or just admire them as they stand immobile. One favourite was the headless torso with the 'detached' head alive and chatting on a plate of vegetables next to him. There are also stalls selling flowers, sketch artists offering to draw your likeness and booths selling a variety of birds and small animals. Indeed it was quite incongruous seeing pigeons hoping around the ground in front of a booth where others were on sale.

Inevitably in such a busy place there will be pickpockets so be careful with your purse, camera and other valuables. However don't let that put you off, whether it's a morning, afternoon or evening stroll - La Rambla is the place.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10922 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10921
There are 13 geese, each representing one-year of the life of the martyred Santa Eulalia, the patron Saint of Barcelona. One does get the sense that the geese feel they are the real owners of the courtyard; everyone else is just an interloper. And they are probably right.

Inside the beautifully cool interior are some wonderfully ornate side chapels, paintings and gilding. The high ceiling has carved round plagues at each axis and the patches of weathering on the roof rather than detracting from the decoration actually add to the feel of the place, giving a sense of history and continuity.

The choir stalls are handsomely decorated with coats of arms and all through the cathedral are wonderfully rich colours and decorative flourishes. It is an incredibly impressive building, a focal point for the area and community, imposing yet also welcoming and peaceful.

A lift takes you to the roof and a walk along the bouncy steel walkway not only gives you fantastic views over the city but also allows you to see up close the architecture of the cathedral itself.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10921 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10919
From a distance the facade looks like someone has taken a lump of clay, kneaded and moulded it into a mass of spikes, icicles, holes and ridges. Closer up and you begin to pick out elements, even closer and you become overwhelmed by the intricate details. Inside the lines of the stone are clean, elegant, tactile.

The structure and composition of the building is very organic - photographs show how some of the columns were inspired by trees - and it is almost as if the building has developed on its own burgeoning from the earth, expending and blossoming as it grows. I particularly sensed this inside the structure and when climbing around inside the thin towers, the building has such a strong sense of identity, its own identity, separate from the person who designed it and the people building it. Maybe that is in part what makes this a remarkable structure, the way that is both representative of Gaudi's vision but is also somehow independent. This is not just a building it's an ongoing work of art.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10919 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/7847 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/7847 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5430 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5430 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5286 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/5286