A Barcelona day from Ciutadella Park to a Barceloneta paella

The city's central park, with a dramatic 1881 fountain that a young Gaudí worked on. Rowboats on the lake, parrots in the palms, students with books on the lawns. Walk through to the north exit.

A 1888 red-brick Catalan Moderniste arch at the park's north entrance. Walk under it into the Passeig de Lluís Companys, lined with palms and jacarandas in bloom each May.

The Picasso museum in five connected medieval palaces. His early works are the point — most of the Blue Period, his studies for Velázquez's Las Meninas. Ninety minutes, then leave for lunch.

A tiny unmarked tapas bar in the old fishermen's quarter — the birthplace of the bomba (deep-fried potato ball filled with beef and aioli). Order four bombas, a plate of esqueixada, a glass of house red. Cash.

Walk south along the boardwalk past the aluminium Peix — Gehry's fish sculpture — for the first 1992 Olympics. The beach fills on weekends; the restaurants on the back side of it serve paella after paella into the evening.

A small, famously good bakery for a late-afternoon bread-and-espresso break. The turrón croissant is the signature. Take a coffee to the bench outside.

A counter-only tapas dinner — no reservations, expect a thirty-minute wait at 20:30. Pep or one of his cooks decides your order based on what's fresh. Trust them; ask for the tortilla to finish.