One of the beautiful buildings at the harbour, right next to the Mirador de Colom.

Now, Barcelona has not just old architecture, but also plenty of new buidlings. This is the Edificio Torre Mapfre, 154 meters tall, situated at the Port Olimpic. The harbour was built for the Olympic Summer Games 1992, and alond with it came a complete new town quarter, the Villa Olimpica. The tower contains offices and a conference center today.

As you can see, the light was quickly vanishing now. Our bus entered the Avendia de l'Argentera, and I could capture the busy traffic on the wide street. In the back, you'll recognize the Monument a Cristofol Colom again.

The Ribera district begins here, Barcelona's trading and maritime center in the medieval times. Today, the "old town" is vibrant and busy, especially during the summer. Please remember: these photos are from February, so for the people of Barcelona it was still winter!

One of the exceptionally beautiful branches of Caixa de Catalunya, the local bank. I personally think that the Spanish really know how to illuminate a city to make it even more beautiful in the evening hours.

Our trip through the Old Town of Barcelona continued, and it was getting a bit chilly on top of the double decker bus. Also, the light was almost gone completely by now, making longer exposure times necessary. This photo, for example was done from the hand (no tripod!) at 1/6 sec. While you might think its blurry - it is not! Just have a look at the people sitting on the left side... Anyway, I really like it the way it is.

Another photo of Barcelona's old town - people rushing by on their way home.

At Placa de Catalunya, basically the center of the town center, we switched from the "Blue Route" to the "Red Route" of the hop-on hop-off bus system. I took the opportunity to do another of those swashed night photos.

When Barcelona grew in the 19th century, the old city walls were demolished and the city began to expand. The people of Barcelona took the opportunity and said "Out with the old - In with the new". In this case, a new style of architecture called Modernism was implemented. One of the interesting results of the time came from the famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. This house - the "Casa Batllo" or simply "The Gaudi House" - is located at the Pg. de Gracia. It's well worth the wait until the lights start to bring the walls to life!

A final view across the busy Passeig de Gracia. We were now heading for the Sagrada Familia, the most famous work of Gaudi. He begun the construction of the church in 1883 and until now it is still not finished. They plan to have it done by 2030 or so. It looks "interesting" and surely is one of the most important landmarks of Barcelona. Unfortunately, it was too dark to make any decent photos.