Wine, tapas and the Mediterranean air - the idea most hold about life on the Spanish coast. Bourdain and the blogs did have one thing right - free tapas do exist.

Barcelona is a beautiful city. The cool air of the sea mixes with the music from the balconies, and wine flows as easy as the Catalan language slides off the tongue. If that is what you are looking for, you can find it. It is in the streets of Las Ramblas or Park Guell, where American tourist flock like pigeons, but if you take a turn down the side streets where balconies crowd out the sun, you can get a taste of the Catalan life.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s no escaping the tourist traps; there’s a reason everyone wants to see theses, but if you are looking to lose yourself in tangle of streets that seem to tie the city down, create your own path; let the sound and the smells of the city take you where they may.