Architectural and Barcelona city trails

The new BarcelonaContrasts radical contemporary architecture with the vibrant factory heritage of the area once known as the "Catalan Manchester":  the paradigm of Barcelona's industrial textile revolution and ferment of a new sociology, the Catalan bourgeoisie. This trip through 22@, the district of knowledge, innovation and new technologies, will take you as far as the Forum, the symbolic final stretch of the iconic Diagonal Avenue, which ends at the sea. The Agbar Tower, The Media Pro Building, Me Hotel or The Telefonica Tower, among others, show a city of dazzling skyscrapers. Can Framis or Ca Aranyó Building form part of another architectural group. Patios, porches or gardens are fundamental exterior spaces that induce dialogue between industrial history and modernity. Diagonal Mar Park -an emotional and sensorial experience- and Poblenou Central Park -a dream shelter- also enrich this tour of diversity. The "Sarrià and Pedralbes", Barcelona garden city. the former village, which lies at the foot of the mountain full of semi-detached houses and mansions, prestigious schools and healthcare facilities, and an introspective private life which reveals another Barcelona which is more solitary. Originally a place where the city's bourgeoisie would spend the summer, Sarrià went on to become a favourite place for today's well-heeled residents. The route explores the urban planning and sociology in this "laboratory" with its wealth of residential architecture which has continued with the lessons of rationalism. Pedralbes Monastery, one of the jewels of Catalan Gothic architecture, the Güell Estate designed by Gaudí, and a vast ensemble of contemporary architecture, are the linking threads that immerse us in what was originally designed as a garden city.