La Ribera is a pleasant quarter in central Barcelona, right next to Barri Gotic. It will impress you with a variety of art galleries, art shops, museums and Gothic palaces, lined side by side along Carrer de Montcada, which leads to the other neighbouring quarter of El Born, known mainly for its intense nigh life, fine restaurants and fashionable boutiques.

La Ribera has been a residential district since the Middle Ages. A stroll along its narrow secluded side streets will take you under old balconies with hung out washing, in front of small pubs and cheap Chinese shops. The entire area around the port looked in the same way before it had been fully renovated and transfigured for the Olympic Games in 1992. Since then the designers and restaurants from this entire area moved to La Ribera and El Born, creating one of the liveliest districts in the city, especially around Passeig del Born.

Maybe Museu Picasso is not the most representative in the world or that with the richest collection of works by the great artist, but it is very well organized, describing the genius Picasso Picasso in the most comprehensive way. Opened in 1963, the museum is located on Carrer de Montcada 15-23. Its rich sections comprise the early years of Picasso's creative evolution, his series Las Meninas and the last outbursts of art creativeness represented in graphics. All the above and many more are displayed in the two neighbouring Gothic palaces: Palau Berenguer de Aguilar and Palau Baró de Castellet. A lovely outdoor courtyard leads up to the exhibition halls, where the museum’s collection traces chronologically the life of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). His earliest art works include some interesting sketches he made as 10 year old wunderkind. You should start from the far end and walk back in order to realize his living imagination and academism. Masterful sketches, portraits and oil landscapes created in A Coruña, when his family moved to that city in Northern Spain from Málaga, show inborn talent and sense of humour, especially in his self-portrait with a wig from 1897. These early works are followed by style experiments influenced by his visit to Paris in 1900.

After the hall with works from the so called Blue Period (1901-1904), the exhibition will take you directly in 1917 when Picasso lived the apogee of his artistic freedom. Then follow the series Las Meninas from 1957. These 57 oil-paintings were inspired by the masterpiece of Velazquez with the same name. The last rooms on this floor show landscapes from Cannes and ceramics from Mougins.

On the upper floor are displayed the masterpieces of the late Picasso - Series 156. This group of graphics was skilfully painted using all possible techniques. It represents the culmination of the artist's refined inspiration and his strong erotic impulses. The graphics are rich in post-modernistic references to the works of many other artists and reveal their voyeurism towards this model.

On the exactly opposite side are the works by the famed medieval Spanish artist Palau Nadal, displayed in the Museu Barbier-Mueller, just across the street from the Picasso Museum. Here is shown a very rich collection of prominent representatives of the pre-Columbian art. Each exhibit is an excellently preserved masterpiece, a true feast of the best from the traditional cultures of Middle America. Eight halls will take you from the oldest culture in America - that of the Olmecs, through the classical period of Teotiuacan to the Aztecs and Mayans. The display includes rare archaeological objects from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama and the entire South America. Artefacts from the Chavín, Moche and Nazca civilizations and finery from the Andean culture are shown together with pottery from the Lower Amazon Basin. You will be amazed by the figure of Zapotec god with a feather hat, the fearful nephrite mask of the Mayans and the perfect geometry of the Peruvian textiles.

In the neighbouring medieval palace - Palau del Marquès de Llió is housed the Textile Museum of Barcelona (Museu Textil) which traces a 1500 year long history of the textile in a rich exhibition created from several private collections. Here you can see everything from ancient Coptic, Moorish and Romanesque fabrics to contemporary fashion design.

Don't miss the magnificent Gothic Church of Santa María del Mar in the end of Carrer de Montcada. It was built by the local sailors in 14th century to rival the sumptuous cathedral of the merchants. Its three naves have perfect proportions and the wonderful rose window from the 15th century above the western portal is a splendid example of the Catalan late Gothic style. North of the church and its square is Passeig del Born where medieval knight tournaments were held. Today this street and its intersections form a grid of top designer boutiques and attractive fashionable shops, lively tapas bars and affordable restaurants.