Since the days of Catalan Gothic, Barcelona has been the quintessential city of architecture, and it would be hard to enjoy it to the full without relishing the visual delights of its buildings as much as the taste of its Mediterranean food.

For the first-time visitor, there are few better ways to absorb something of the city’s long history than to lean back in a taxi, roll down the window and – carefully ignoring the garish ground-floor shopfronts that could belong to any metropolis – study the first and second floors of the buildings as they pass.