Barcelona
is the capital of Catalonia, located in the north east part of the Iberian Peninsula, and Spain's 2nd largest city. It's located on the Mediterranean coast, south of the Pyrenees, between the rivers Llobregat and Besos. It has one of Europe's principal ports and it's a major economic centre. It's also a major tourist destination, with lots of rich culture heritage. The official language is Catalan, but the locals also speak Castilian Spanish and most understand English.
Barcelona
is an amazing city with very contrast areas like the Barri Gothic and L'Eixample. Here you will find lots of history, art and magnificent architecture that can only be found in Barcelona. It's a wonderful city with great attractions and wonderful people.
One of the most important monuments in Barcelona is La Sagrada Familia. 
www.sagradafamilia.org. It has been under construction since the late 1800's. Because of its complexity and issues with the building, it's not estimated to be complete till 2050 (or at least last I heard). It's Gaudi's famous architectural piece, which he will never see to be completed. It's really amazing. Try to climb all the way to the top, the view is breathtaking. You can rent the earphones to hear all the details. It shouldn't take more then 2 hours to complete the tour.
BCN is also known Las Ramblas street,
which starts at Monument a Colom, built in 1888 and unveiled during a universal exposition, which honors Christopher Columbus and ends at Placa de Catalunya, the square in which all roads start. If you stand facing the Placa de Catalunya, you will have the Raval area on your left and on your right will be the Barri Gotic (Gothic district). Towards the middle of this street, you will find the Gran Teatre del Liceu, dating back to the 1840's, it was one of the finest opera houses in Europe and tragically burned down in 1994. It was rebuilt, keeping the original façade and inaugurated in 2000. For shows visit their website www.liceubarcelona.com
Placa del Pi, located just off the Ramblas, is very popular with the artists and bohemians. It's the home to Santa Maria del Pi church with its huge multicolored rose window and the house of the Gremio de los Revendedores, which dates back to the late 1600's. There are many arts and crafts fairs and natural food street vendors regularly in the square.
Placa Nova is where the old city was born. The letters BARCINO are sculpted in the square. Here you will find the door Del Bisbal with 2 Romanesque towers. On Thursdays the square becomes an antique market.
The 19th century, Placa Reial is also located just off the Ramblas. It has a very traditional feel with an arcade, palm trees and lamps designed by Gaudi. It's a great square to relax and people watch. On Sunday mornings there is a stamp and coin market.
Barri Gotic is a very distinctive well known area in BCN. There are big attractions here like Cathedral de la Seu, the Plaça Sant Jaume (which contains the two organs of Catalan politics, the Ajuntament and the Generalitat), and the medieval palace of the Plaça del Rei, where Columbus was received after returning from America. There are also smaller squares like Plaça Felip Neri with a really nice fountain, the oasis-like courtyard of the Frederic Marés Museum, gargoyles peering down from ancient towers and small chapels set into the sides of medieval buildings. When the sun goes down you can find street performances near the Cathedral.
The Ribera District is another gothic area which houses Santa Maria del Mar church that dates back to the 14th century. Walk down Calle Montcada filled with Gothic palaces like the Palau Dalmases. Here you will also find the Picasso Museum, which occupies 5 contiguous palaces as well as the Textile and Clothing Museum and the new Barbier-Mueller pre-Colombian art gallery.
Passeig del Born which use to be the sight where witch burning was held in during the medieval times. Today, El Born is the place to go for good nightlife as it's filled with bars. It's also the location of Santa Maria del Mar, a very attractive typical Gothic church. Next to the church is the Fossar de les Moreres, where an eternal flame burns to commemorate those that died in the 1713-14 war of succession. To see more about this war, visit the Museu d'Historia de Catalunya which has an interesting display of the war, another museum to visit for more BCN history would be Maritime Museum.
At night, you can find fabulous views overlooking the city and port from the top of Monjuic. It's also great for visiting during the day, as it's the home to the Monjuic castle, which dominates the hill since 1640 and during Franco's era, was used to hold political prisoners. It has one of the rare Franco statues. In this area you will also find Joan Miro's Foundation/Museum and Poble Espanyol, which is a miniature village with reproductions of regional architecture created for a 1929's World's Fair. The village includes representations from Galicia, Basque Country, Aragon to Andalucia. On Fridays and Saturdays there are festivals till late at night. The area also includes some bars and regional restaurants.
L'Eixample is the modern area of BCN and filled with Art Nouveau architecture by Gaudi. The story has it that the head official wanted to improve BCN – there was a lot of Cholera being spread from living in small spaces (Barri Gothic) and also a lot of rioting, so the city was expanded and the area of L'Eixample was created. Passeig de Gracia is a very important street in this area, it's a posh shopping area and perfect for a leisure stroll. There are 2 very important Gaudi pieces on this street: Casa Mila a.k.a. La Pedrera (the quarry) because when it was made it was too futuristic looking for the people.
Further on the same street is Casa Batlo, another very futuristic building with curvy lines. In this area, you can also find Gaudi's Casa Calvet, not as exciting as the other 2, but also with a very unique style.L'Eixample area ends at Avinguda Diagonal, which is another major street in BCN.
Parc Guell is another great Gaudi piece. Gaudi's patron Eusebi Guell, originally planned for this area to be a suburban city housing project. More then 60 housing plots were allocated, but only 2 homes were built on the property. The project was deemed too radical for its time and the city of BCN bought it out in 1922 and converted it to a municipal park designed by Gaudi. The park is extremely imaginative, filled with mosaics and twisting roads. Here you will find Gaudi's famous mosaic lizard. Great for a picnic and leisure stroll. Outside of the park there's a nice village with shops for souvenir shopping.
Information about Gaudi's work can be found at http://www.bcn.es/gaudi2002/english/index.htm
Other great areas to visit in BCN include: 
Barceloneta which is a traditional fishermen village originating in the 1750's, great for having a seafood lunch and a dip in the water as well as the Olympic Stadium area, which was actually created in 1929 but ironically, rebuilt and used for the 1992 games. The nearby Olympic Port was also built for the 1992 Olympics. Here, you will be greeted by a huge bronze statue made by Franck Gehry. This area is great to stroll around, and get a bite to eat.
BCN makes a great base for side trips to nearby areas. To the north near the French border is Costa Brava (Rocky Coast), a popular tourist spot well knowing for it's unspoiled seaside spots and it's whitewashed fishing village Cadaques. The capital of the area is Girona, which is an ancient town full of history. There is also Figueres, great for art lovers and the birthplace of Salvador Dali, which is the home to his museum. To the south is Costa Daurada (Golden Coast) with wide and sandy beaches, popular for Sitges resort town and for Tarragona, which is the UNESCO capital of the region, filled with Roman vestiges and architecture. Another popular side trip is to the northwest, the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat. It is the religious center of Catalonia, which thousands of pilgrims annually visit to see the Black Virgin.
Besides BCN's great attractions, it also has great cuisine. The typical Catalan cuisine includes fish and seafood like cod, sardines, cuttlefish called “sepia”, octopus “pulpo”, squid, large prawns called “gambas” and cockle clams called “berberechos”. If you decide to order the prawns or fish, most often then not, the head will be included on the plate and a lot of Spaniards eat the inside of the head. Most of the fish and seafood are grilled, steamed or sautéed with olive oil and garlic, they are not big on using batter or sauces, although there will be the occasional plate that will include it. Other typical dishes may include black rice or pasta made from squid ink and paella made with seafood, veggies or meats. Besides seafood, they do eat lamb, goat, pork as well as liver, tripe and sweet bread, beef, chicken and lots of vegetable plates that are grilled, sautéed or with a sauce.
www.cookandtaste.net offers cooking lessons right on Las Ramblas . They have classes for 3.5 hours, at 50 euros per person or you can schedule a private lesson.
They can also combine a lesson with a tour of Boqueria Market, which is a major market in BCN, filled with seafood, meats and produce vendors. It has everything needed to make a traditional Mediterranean dish. The market can also be toured on your own and has no cover.
For info on some of BCN's great restaurants, pastry, turron and bakery shops, please note the following:
Cal Pep it's a very famous Tapas restaurant, it's a very fun atmosphere, the food is fresh and they have lots of seafood options. You can sit at the bar to order taps or make reservations for a sit down dinner the tapas run from 5-15 euros and the main restaurant plates run from 30-45 euros.
Address” Pl. de les Olles, 8 Ciutat Vella
Email: calpepSPAMFILTER@eresmas.net
Tel: 93-310-7961
www.comerc24.com – very creative fusion type of plates, it's a very trendy chic atmosphere the chef is very well known
www.4gats.com – another very famous restaurant, Picasso use to frequent the original one, they have a pianist and violinist that play at dinner time. The artwork inside are all famous reproductions.
La Fonda - has local cuisine and get's really busy, a line start up before they open. It's more popular with the locals then the tourist.
Carrer del Escudellers, 08002 Barcelona Tel# 0093 301 75 15
www.sagardi.com - Sagardì Euskal Taberna this is a very good and famous tapas bar
www.mesondavid.com – has dishes from all over Spain, very lively and fun, great for celebrations
www.tablaodecarmen.com – great for dinner flamenco show
www.codorniu.es – Cava Winery, which is Catalan champagne produced in the area.
www.pastisseria.com - Barcelona has a fantastic Chocolate Museum, which also has a pastry school. It's a great sweat treat after a long day of sight seeing.
www.fornmistral.com – a bakery that has been around for 5 generations and one of the first in Europe to make an ecological type of bread
addresses: Ronda Sant Antoni, 96 and Torres i Amat, 7
www.fornfortino.com – has been baking for over 100 years and is probably the only one with an antique oven, they do over 400 different options and you can ask them to reserve bread for you up to 1 week in advance on line.
Address: Travessera de Gracia 145
Planelles Donat is very well known for their turron and ice cream during the summer. Address: Portal de l'Angel, 27
www.foixdesarria.com - opened in 1886 by the famous poet J.V. Foix's father, it's one of the most famous pastry shops in Barcelona.
Address: Pl. de Sarria, 12-13
www.escriba.es – famous pastry shop on Las Ramblas, 83
www.espaisucre.com – it's a very innovative sit down style restaurant based on deserts with all different tastes (spicy, sour, bitter, sweet) and textures,
Address: Princesa 53
www.bocamel.com – started by 2 famous pastry chefs (one is a partner of Espai Sucre), they have a very good variety in sweet and salty deserts.