3 Best Sights in Barcelona, Spain

This traditional café and rendezvous point at the top of the Rambla, over the metro station, has an elegant, high-ceilinged interior. The terrace is one of the city's prime people-watching spots—but keep a sharp eye on your bags and valuables.

Gaudí disciple Joan Rubió i Bellver, creator of the Gran Via's Casa Golferichs, won the Barcelona architecture prize of 1913 with this extravagant interplay of decorative brick and white surfaces. The house is traditionally known as El Frare Blanc (The White Monk) for the masía (Catalan country house) that previously occupied the spot and served as home to a community of Dominican monks who wore white habits. Floodlit at night, the building resembles nothing so much as a fairy-tale Andalusian castle. It is not simply a sight to behold: It is also a restaurant, the Asador de Aranda—the venue in Barcelona for oven-roasted milk-fed baby lamb. It was built at the behest of Theodor Roviralta, who made his fortune in the Spanish colonies.

You may come up to Tibidabo for the great views, but El Mirador de la Venta has good contemporary cuisine to accompany them.