10 places to visit before they vanish. Barcelona Travel Guide. Barcelona is the city of Gaudi and the ultimate Olympic success story that consistently ranks high on lists of top travel destinations. The 1992 Olympics spurred a decade of redevelopment, particularly along the seafront and port area, that saw Barcelona morph into a vibrant metropolis. The capital of Catalunya and Spain’s second largest city, it rivals Madrid as the cultural capital of Spain; breaking stereotypes with its eclectic, avant garde yet charismatic flair. Reinventing Spanish ethos, Barcelona seduces with its jumble of futuristic buildings and medieval streets, creative cuisine and a gyrating nightlife. Although a very modern city, Barcelona is still a stronghold of traditions.
Divided into 10 districts each with its own character, the Gothic Quarter is the old city and stretches from the seafront to La Rambla. The other big draw is the architecture of Antoni Gaudí - his most famous work, the as yet to be completed Sagrada Familia - can be found in the Eixample district. Pamukkale – Turkey’s Cotton Castle. In Turkish the name literally means Cotton Castle and it is easy to see why it was given that. Yet this geological wonder is also the site of the ancient city of Hierapolis and over the centuries the two have seemed to come together, merged almost, in to one.
In fact some of the old tombs in the city's necropolis have beome part of landscape - literally. The site itself is a series of travertines and hot springs. The travertines here have a concentric appearance and are almost sheer white giving the area an ethereal, other worldly appearance. Before the area was declared a World Heritage Site it had its fair share of troubles. The travertine pools are at the top of a cliff which looks like, from a distance, that it is made from chalk or has been whitewashed by some giant Turkish Tom Sawyer doing his chores.
The site is home to not one but seventeen hot water springs which have varied temperatures from lukewarm to boiling hot.