Barcelona, Spain

My next stop took me into Spain and iconic Barcelona. My campsite however was a full 30 miles away in Sitges, a typical little Catalan coastal town with a nice beach, seaside church and local shops. It is certainly a luxury to be able to take a legitimate dip in the sea in December - something I don't think I would fancy in the UK right now. Also, luckily, there is a great bus network in the area so getting in and out of Barcelona was easy.

Arriving in Barcelona city centre, it is hard to avoid the huge pedestrianised boulevard of La Rambla which leads from the centre to the newly developed waterfront. It's mainly lined with the normal designer stores and clothing chains but the huge fresh produce Boqueria Market is a welcome change.

Despite the swarms of tourists (and therefore hiked up prices too), they do make some delicious smoothies. At the end of La Rambla are a number of grand old buildings by the sea and a tall column with the statue of Columbus perched on top.

If there is one sight which Barcelona is reknowned for though it is La Sagrada Familia. This goliath church building which was never actually finished and is surrounded by cranes, will eventually have 18 towers - each over 100m tall. Elsewhere, there is the equally scaffolding-clad Cathedral with it's gothic towers and stained glass windows while a long hike up the slopes to the Guell Park in the north gives a nice panorama of the city.

Now any trip to Barcelona is not complete without taking in a football game at the Nou Camp to see arguably the best team on the face of the Earth. I went on a Tuesday evening to watch Barcelona demolish Belarussian minows BATE Borisov in the Champions League.

While it may not have been the most atmospheric of games (Barcelona had already qualified, the stadium was hardly packed and they fielded a team which was short on household name stars), they still managed to cruise to a 4-0 victory and played the kind of mesmeric football that most teams can only dream about.

A little bit of Barca magic

Pedro scores his second of the night from the penalty spot.

If it is culture that you are after, Barcelona has it in bucketloads. In particular, the Picasso Museum is a must see. The gallery focuses mostly on the painter's early work and his inspiration growing up before moving through his moody "blue" period and on to the quirky cubist portraits which are now so instantly recognisable.

For something more, well, contemporary, the excellent Contemporary Art Museum has several floors of the usual mix of the good, the bad and the frankly ridiculous modern art.

If Barcelona has one person to thank for shaping the city into what it is today though it is Antoni Gaudi. As well as the previously mentioned Guell Park and Sagrada Familia, this nutcase nature-lovin' god-fearin' architect produced the likes of the neighbouring Casa Battlo, Casa Amatller and Casa Lleo Morera as well as the city's easy to navigate grid system which is reminiscent of how I imagine New York to be.

Another of his unique buildings, La Pedrera, has been turned into a dedicated museum where you can visit the beautifully designed and functional chimney pots on the roof, the parabolic arches which support the building in the strongest possible way and many of the wonky rooms and balconies inside.

Barcelona was perhaps the city I was most looking forward to seeing in Western Europe and it didn't disappoint. Anywhere that offers this much art, culture, great football, live music, swimming in December, architectural delights...etc...etc...      is alright with me.