A towering statue of Christopher Columbus welcomed us into Barcelona’s harbor yesterday. It saluted my first attempt at a self-guided tour, launched from a cruise ship. I simplified the trial by booking our designated shuttle from the port.

With the streets of the Gothic Quarter lying quiescent on a soft Sunday morning, I directed my steps first to the cathedral. Dwarfed by Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia (a modernist constructionist I had opted not to squeeze in, owing to the distance from city center and my lack of enthusiasm for modernism), the church nonetheless staggered me.

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