Park Guell, Barcelona

You have to love this place--Gaudi had the idea to create what would have essentially been a gated and planned community in the hill overlooking Barcelona--he thought that the wealthy would want to move out of the city and that a planned village, with an open market and the longest bench ever circling it (which is not only gorgeous, but has excellent lumbar support) and gardens would be a sure fire winner.  In his time it was not, but it certainly became something decades later. 

So all we have left is a handful of buildings to visit.  I would definitely recommend visiting Park Guell, but not at the time that we did--it was far too crowded to really enjoy what I think was designed to be a peaceful place.  We walked here after lunch one day (so we got there about 5:00pm, after a quite lengthy lunch that required a rigorous walk to overcome--we chose to take a taxi up and walk back, but it was well over an hour back to the Barri Gotic from here), and it was uncomfortably crowded.  But the whimsy of Gaudi, his idea of art and function, modern building options combined with beauty comes through even if you have to stumble over people to see it.