Four cities, each with its own rhythm — from Barcelona's layered intensity to Vic's sleepy Plaça Major, where the Saturday market still feels entirely real.
Just an hour south by train from our door to Plaça Catalunya. Gaudí, the Gothic Quarter, the Boqueria — enough for a full day, or an easy afternoon.
Trains leave every half hour from Pineda de Mar. The line runs along the coast almost the whole way, so the journey becomes part of the outing: sea on one side, the Maresme on the other, eucalyptus and vineyards rising into the hills.
A cathedral city on the River Onyar, with coloured houses reflected in the water. The Jewish Quarter is one of the best preserved in Europe. You can walk the Roman walls from above, and that walk gives you the whole city at once.
Late afternoon is the best time — the light settles into ochre on the stone, and the city grows quieter after lunch.
A cathedral town in the heart of an old inland plain, ringed by oak woods. Tuesdays and Saturdays are market days beneath the arcades of Plaça Major — one of the most beautiful squares in Catalonia.
The city of Dalí, and of the theatre-museum he designed as his final work. Give it a whole morning.
