Capturing Catalan culture; Not just for football fans, Barcelona offers visitors an array of sights and experiences.

Byline: Gareth Rogers

SUCH a beautiful horizon, bellowed Freddy Mercury in his famous 1992 Olympics song - and he wasn't lying.

Sitting just a stone's throwaway from the stunning French Cote D'Azur and even closer to the ever popular Costa Brava, Barcelona, the jewel of the Mediterranean, is literally somewhere in between the two.

But what makes this cosmopolitan Catalan city, which suffered most brutally during the Franco oppression, is the array of sights and experiences that are on offer to the visitor.

Being a massive football fan, I was excited to scratch the underbelly of sporting culture in this city and its most famous club, Barca.

After taking a Metro, very reasonably priced at one euro per journey, to Les Courts, I made the short and alluring half-mile downhill walk to the awe-inspiring Camp Nou stadium.

On a match day the streets are lined with hoards of eager scarf, flag and badge vendors, who on the side sell some rather annoying horns, which are invariably hooted throughout the match by noisy youngsters.

Before any game, the Camp Nou virgin must visit the club museum, where photographs, boots and shirts from the club's most famous players like Maradona, Romario, Kallala and Ronaldo are scattered around in a football Aladdin's Cave. At the end of the tour, punters get the ultimate experience - a chance to be pictured with one of Barca's many European Cups.

But to waste a weekend in Barcelona only thinking about football would be sacrilege for anyone who is not male. The city really does have so much more to offer.

Firstly, its Mediterranean climate means the sun is almost always out, giving Catalans the chance to indulge in their numero uno hobby - strolling up and down their city's beautiful streets in their obligatory stylish shades.

Favourite strutting haunts are the city's central streets, Las Ramblas and Passeig De Gracia, or the beautiful port area where the yachts of the rich and famous are anchored in the shadow of the mighty statue of Christopher Columbus - who still points out over the glistening Mediterranean, or the magnificent Placa Espanya memorial fountain.

Anyone with a free afternoon in Barcelona should do as I did and take a Metro to the front, walk along the promenade with a refreshing ice cream and head for Barceloneta beach, where on weekends thousands of locals will be indulging in their second favourite hobby of stripping down to their bathers or bikinis and posing on the sand in one of Europe's finest urban beaches.

But away from football and lazing on the beach, I was also keen to see a bit of cultural Barcelona - and boy was there plenty of that.

Starting with the grand cathedral, which is currently being renovated, I paid the five euros to go inside but was mainly enticed by the opportunity to climb on the roof and take photos of the views of the city.

On a clear day you can literally see for miles.

And the sight that stands head and shoulders above all others is architect Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral - surely one of the most distinctive buildings in Europe.

Other work from Gaudi, who died in the process of building the Sagrada (and still decades from completion), includes the Casa Mila, in Passeig De Gracia, and the Dragon Fountain at Guell Park.

In fact the city is littered with Gaudi masterpieces and the city's inhabitants are very proud of them. They are all worth seeing and there are tours which cover the lot.

On the subject of tours, Barcelona has two city open-top bus routes. One to the north, which takes in the Camp Nou, Barcelona Art Museum and Guell Park, and one to the South, which goes from the Passeig De Gracia, along Las Ramblas and down to the seafront via the Olympic Stadium, situated on top of Montjuic hill, which also offers great views of the city and is home to Barcelona's soccer rivals FC Espanyol.

Shoppers in Barcelona get a great variety of options from the top end Armani and Prada boutiques on Passeig De Gracia to the stall traders who line Las Ramblas.

I also visited the Mercat de la Boqueria - which offers all you need in Catalan delicacies and holiday gifts. Night time revellers are drawn to Barcelona as the city provides an unrivalled range of theatres and bars. The home of top opera houses like Gran Teatre Del Liceu is also the capital of the South Coast Spanish bar scene, with all of its happy hours, entrance deals and late night offerings. But the strength of the euro is making this type of break less attractive to UK party animals.

However before the party starts, and it does tend to start late in Barca, there is time to line the stomach with some tapas or paella at many of the city's bars, cafes or restaurants. Visitors not so confident in their Spanish (or Catalan) can go to the Wild Turkey Irish Bar or Hogan's Australian Bar for a bit of English-speaking company. And the sport-starved fan can catch that live match.

CAPTION(S):

LIVELY: Street artist on Las Ramblas; COSMOPOLITAN: Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, one of the most distinctive buildings in Europe