Barcelona

Depends on what you like, but for me, anything built by Gaudi! And the food market.

Medieval Center: Cathedral, Picasso Museum, Placa Reial, City History Museum. Sagrada Familia, esp. inside, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo Palau de Musica Catalana Favorite Meals: La Crema Canela, off Placa Reial, and Taller de Tapas

Walk down Las Ramblas, stop in at the food market, awesome to see all the choices. Take a gondola ride over the town (I think it is called a gondola??) Also day trip to what I think is called Monserrat but can't remember correct name but it was great day trip.

Go to Amazon and buy (sorry, Rick) Top 10 Barcelona by DK publishers, about $14. It gives you detailed information about the areas that the other posts mentioned including maps, places to eat, shop, hotels, a short English-Calalan phrase section, etc.

Have paella at Restaurant Peru in Barceloneta. Taverna is also good.

For an adventure, take the metro, then the funicular (3 minutes), then a cable car (8 minutes?) up to Fort Montjuic, which is perched high above Barcelona. You have a 360 degree view of the entire city, in one direction the old city, in another the mediterranean below, in the distance you can see the towers of La Familia Sagrada. Getting there is easy if you look on a subway map or in a travel guide for Montjuic Castle or Montjuic Fort. Free admission to the fort's spectacular view---some tourist-priced snacks available.

Did anyone mention Parc Guell? Be sure to see it-RS guide says it is walkable but that would not be possible for most people. Very easy to hop on a bus. We loved Cafe Academia in the Bari Gottic area. It is a small restaurant in a stone and beam building and our dinners were great and not expensive.

We were in Barcelona last week. You must go to the Sagrada Familia Basilica! Be aware though that you will need cash to buy your entry ticket. We didn't know that until we had waited in line and gotten to the ticket booth. Luckily we could scrape together enough euros to get in. We got the English audioguide and bought tickets for the elevator too. I wish we had allowed more time for the museum and crypt down below the building. The metro and buses are very easy to use. We bought t10 tickets and shared them for getting around all over town. We ate at the Arenas de Barcelona one night. There is a restaurant at the top that we wanted to eat in, but it was closed for a wedding party that night. I think the view from there during dinner would be fabulous. I have no idea what the food would be like. We had no trouble with pickpockets, but we were extremely careful about where we carried our cash and cards. Better safe than sorry.

I don't know if this is a "must," but we rode the hop-on hop-off bus around the city. I believe there are 2 lines with different routes. We don't usually take these buses, but we only had 4 days and taking the bus helped us get oriented to the city and gave us a better idea where we wanted to spend more time. But I'd have to say that a "must" for me would be going to the delicious & colorful market La Boqueria on Las Ramblas. If eating like the locals do is something you enjoy, I wouldn't miss eating there at least once. Aside from appreciating & shopping from the amazing display of meats, fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts, chocolate - you can also eat with the locals from a variety of food stands. Lunching on "gambas al ajillo" (shrimp cooked in garlic, olive oil & parsley), jamón Ibérico (acorn-only fed pigs), olives, bread & cheese & washing it all down with a cava (or a caña) became one of my favorite things to do in BCN. (I'd recommend going earlier for lunch - as early as 10:00 am). The market is closed on Sundays.