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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Accustomed as I am to Oxford’s severe Gothic, the Baroque of continental Europe never fails to floor me. The cathedral of Valencia combines both: a Gothic bell tower rubs shoulders with its sweeping facade, renovated in the latest style of the eighteenth century.

My first day in port, I had joined an excursion into city center. The guide highlighted the Colosseum-style bullfighting arena, the massive gates of the historic city walls, and the bizarrely futuristic aquarium complex as we rolled towards Valencia.

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