Gothic Quarter and El Born: Roman walls to Santa Maria del Mar: a walk in Barcelona

The medieval core in one loop: cathedral, Roman Barcino, the old royal square and the Born's Gothic church, ending with cava at a 1929 bar.

Best time: Morning from 9:00, before the cruise-ship groups

The route, stop by stop

1
Barcelona Cathedral
Facade and cloister with its 13 geese; 40 min.
Gothic cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia with a cloister where 13 white geese live, one for each year of the martyred saint's age.
2
Museu Frederic Mares
Courtyard or the curiosity collection; 20-45 min.
A sculptor's obsessive collection, from Romanesque crucifixes to a 'cabinet of curiosities' of fans, pipes and toys, in part of the old royal palace.
3
MUHBA Placa del Rei
Roman Barcino underground; 60 min.
The city history museum: a lift drops you into about 4,000 m2 of excavated Roman Barcino streets, a laundry, fish-salting and wine-making workshops under the Gothic square.
4
Placa de Sant Felip Neri
Quiet square with Civil War shrapnel scars on the church wall; 10 min.
5
Museu Picasso
Montcada's palaces; museum 90 min optional.
The best collection of Picasso's formative years, in five linked medieval palaces; the 58-painting Las Meninas series is the centrepiece.
6
Santa Maria del Mar
Catalan Gothic nave; 20 min.
The purest Catalan Gothic church, built in only 54 years (1329-83) by the port's workers; the wide, bare nave and slim octagonal columns feel strikingly light.
7
El Xampanyet
House cava and anchovies at the bar; 30 min.
Tiled cava bar opened in 1929, pouring its sweetish house cava with anchovies, tinned seafood and pa amb tomaquet.