What was I doing out so late, anyway? Carousing, imbibing, aimlessly walking the dark stone streets, stopping to hear a musician serenading passers-by near one of the city’s many old churches, or to watch a couple of children re-enacting that evening’s Barcelona-Juventus soccer match against a wall off the Carrer del Carme. An evening might begin at Bar Brutal, a place with plenty of personality and permanent marker on the walls, and thoughtful cuisine that did not break the bank.

The codfish served under an impossibly light cloud of fluffy potato (10 euros) was heavenly, and balanced wonderfully with a generous drizzle of citrus oil. A diverse cheese plate (11 euros) with a cow’s milk Comté, two goat’s milk options and a blue made from sheep’s milk, went well with my cheap glass of Saltamartí tinto. “I love a cheese plate,” a man named Olivier, said to me from down the bar. He explained that a good plate is like a geographical map — you can look at it and say, “This cheese is from this region here; this one from over here.”

Tapas are a must, of course, and you’ll find none better than at Xarcuteria La Pineda, a small store and delicatessen with several tables. Many of the offerings at La Pineda are pintxos (pronounced pinchos), which are a Basque thing — snacks with a small wooden stick driven through them (pintxo means spike). I loved my Gilda pintxo (2.10 euros), a couple of fat green olives sandwiching a folded anchovy and chili pepper, as well as a slightly larger bite, a small square of spinach pastry fastened to a piece of artichoke and a sun-dried tomato (2.25 euros). Washed down with a bottle of Estrella Galicia beer (1.60 euros), it was the ideal afternoon snack.

This was all merely fuel, of course, to continue my exploration of Gaudí. The Sagrada Família, looming like a castle in the sky, almost blinded me with its prodigiousness when I emerged from the Metro station. Interestingly, Gaudí began his work on this project relatively early in his career, assuming control of its construction in 1883, and worked on it for over four decades until his death. The astonishing basilica, consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, has been in a near-constant state of construction and is scheduled for completion in 2026. Its Jesus Christ tower, at 566 feet, will make it Europe’s tallest cathedral.

And how does it look? Wondrous. Outlandish. Certainly unlike any church I’ve ever been in. (Admission is 15 euros; add another 9 if you’d like a guided tour.) Jaw-droppingly tall columns branch out like trees near the top; the stonework is so clean it looks as if it’s folded out of paper; the stained-glass windows showcase the spectrum of the rainbow.

The building has certainly been divisive. George Orwell called it “one of the most hideous buildings in the world” while Salvador Dalí had a different perspective: “Those who have not tasted his superbly creative bad taste,” he said, “are traitors.”

Not quite as well known is Gaudí’s Casa Batlló, built between 1904 and 1906, though it might be his most characteristic work. The imaginative, mischievous structure is like something out of “Alice in Wonderland” or Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory: Colorful, playful shapes and glittering bits of glass are engaged in a spectacular dialogue with sensual curved woods in a way that seems to perfectly capture the light filtering in from the Passeig de Gràcia. Again, Gaudí’s respect for nature is clear. Walking through the attic, with its many catenary arches, seems like walking through the rib cage of a whale.