La Rambla

Before this was Barcelona's most famous promenade, it was an open sewer. The name comes from the Arabic "ramla," meaning sandy riverbed, and for centuries that's exactly what it was: a seasonal stream that snaked along the medieval city walls, carrying waste down to the sea. In the fifteenth century, the city diverted the sewer, paved over the channel, and accidentally created the most celebrated walkway in Spain.

La Rambla stretches 1.2 kilometres from Placa de Catalunya down to the Columbus Monument at Port Vell. It's actually five different streets stitched together, each with its own name — Rambla de Canaletes, Rambla dels Estudis, Rambla de Sant Josep, Rambla dels Caputxins, and Rambla de Santa Monica — which is why locals say "Les Rambles" in the plural. The first trees were planted in 1703: 280 birch trees that were later replaced by elms, then acacias, and finally the London plane trees that line the boulevard today.

Federico Garcia Lorca called it "the only street in the world which I wish would never end." George Orwell was less romantic — he fought a street battle here during the May Days of 1937 and wrote about it in Homage to Catalonia, describing how he was pinned down by sniper fire from the rooftops of the very buildings tourists now photograph.

Walk it from top to bottom in the evening, when the living statues are mid-performance and the flower stalls are still open. At the very top, stop at the Font de Canaletes — the ornate iron fountain where FC Barcelona fans gather after every major victory. Legend says that anyone who drinks from it will always return to Barcelona.