This comprises a series of bonfires built on almost every street corner in the city in the week leading up to 19 March. It’s a bit shabby, but has a completely different atmosphere from the centre of the city. Afterwards walk to the beach at Las Arenas.LIGHT MY FIREThe biggest festival of the year – arguably, anywhere in Spain – is Las Fallas of Valencia ( www.fallas ). Get off the tram at Dr Lluch stop, cross the road and walk up the Calle Pescadores and look for the remaining ex-fishermen’s cottages that are painted in bright colours.
Stop off along the way at Cabanyel, the gipsy quarter of town. Masses here are held on Sundays on the hour from 8am-1pm.The beach is a tram ride away; tickets cost €1.40 (£1). The cathedral contains the Chapel of the Holy Grail: the chalice used at the Last Supper, as verified by the late Pope John Paul II. It opens 9am-6pm daily, admission €8 (£5.70); early evening is the best time to visit to avoid the crowds (00 34 93 207 3031; www.sagradafamilia ).To find a real, finished, cathedral, head south-west along the coast in search of the Holy Grail – said to have ended up in the biggest place of worship in Valencia. He’s the man responsible for the meltingly beautiful structures that pop up around town – but most dramatically for the Sagrada Familia, the temple that remains unfinished after 123 years of building (or, mostly, not building).
Just around the corner, La Dolca Herminia at Magdalenes 27 (00 34 93 317 06 76), serves excellent Catalan cuisine in sublime surroundings.SOUNDS HEAVENLYIf you aspire to heaven, then seek out the unfinished symphony in architecture by Antoni Gaudi. In this late 19th-century Modernista structure, the great early 20th-century artists met and drank – sometimes settling their accounts with works of art rather than cash. It trades on its history a little too keenly for some, but the monkfish stew (€21.35/£15.25) is good when it is on. The strong suit is seafood, with a decent bacalau (cod) at a reasonable €6.10 (£4.40).Alternatively, you could pick up the Picasso theme at Els 4 Gats at Montsio 3 (00 34 93 302 4140; www.4gats ). There are plenty of caf?for snacks, but for something more elaborate try Taxidermista (00 34 93 412 4536) at number eight, which occupies the old Natural Science Museum.
Bullet holes still perforate the fabric of some of the buildings, but Orwell would barely recognise the street today: as well as noise and dust, dirt and fumes, you find McDonald’s and Burger King.More attractively, just off the Ramblas is the Placa Reial, a typically lovely Spanish combination of caf?and colonades with palm trees in the centre. George Orwell wrote evocatively of a Barcelona in the throes of devastation in the Spanish Civil War, and described violent gun battles in the Ramblas. The collection ranges from pencil sketches to starkly expressive self-portraits.Close by is the Hotel Banys Orientals at Argenteria 37 (00 34 93 268 8460; www.hotelbanysorientals ), the nearest Barcelona gets to a budget designer hotel with stylish double rooms at €102 (£72), with breakfast an extra €10.30 (£7.40) per person.The Columbus monument, planted close to the Mediterranean shore, marks the start of Las Ramblas – an ancient drainage channel that is now the pedestrian artery of Barcelona, a broad stripe separating the old town to the east from the steamy, sordid Barri Xines to the west. It combines a beautiful waterside setting with superb restaurants and extreme nightlife – and world-class museums.
Pablo Picasso was born in another Costa city, Malaga, but spent the formative years between 1895 and 1904 in Barcelona, arriving in his mid-teens and leaving in his early twenties.
Join the crowds at the most popular museum in Barcelona, the Museu Picasso, housed in a superb collusion of mansions at Montcada 15-23 (00 34 93 31 96 310; www.museupicasso.bcn.es). It opens 10am-8pm daily except Sunday, when it closes at 3pm, and on Monday, when it is closed altogether; admission €6 (£4.30). WHERE TO START?
In perhaps the Mediterranean’s greatest metropolis: Barcelona, coastal Spain’s leading city and the Catalan capital. The open-plan building sits low on the hillside, offering 180-degree vistas of the coastline from all its rooms, with sleek, if slightly sombre furnishings. The rooms are brightened, however, with contemporary art and tropical flowers, and the house is ideally located for exploring the Margaret River vineyards.Ron Roozen’s Place, Prevelly, Margaret River, Western Australia (00 61 4 08 918 896; www.ronroozen .au) Rental from AU$500 (£210) per night.. The three-bedroom home overlooks the crashing surf of Prevelly Beach and Rivermouth, where the Margaret River meets the Indian Ocean.
