Barcelona is one of those cities that stays with you long after you leave.

I visited in June and spent time in the Gothic Quarter, at La Boqueria, on a boat in the Mediterranean, and in front of some of the most extraordinary architecture I have ever seen. Each of those things alone would have been enough. Together they made for a trip I keep coming back to in my mind.

What I love most about Barcelona is the combination it offers, great architecture and art on one side, the Mediterranean Sea on the other. For someone whose two great loves are exactly those things, it felt almost too good to be true. You can spend a morning inside Sagrada Família watching light move through stained glass, and by the afternoon you are on a boat with prosecco and the sea stretching out in every direction.

There is also something about the atmosphere of the city in summer, the heat, the outdoor dining, the long evenings, the unhurried way life happens there, that is unlike anywhere else I have been. Barcelona doesn't rush you. It invites you to slow down, eat well, walk slowly, and pay attention.