La Rambla and the Miró mosaic

Before anything else, look down: you're standing on a Miró. The big round mosaic in reds, blues and yellows was designed by Joan Miró and laid in 1976 at this point of La Rambla, known as the Pla de l'Os. It was his greeting to people arriving in the city from the port, and thousands walk over it every day without noticing.

1From stream to promenade

La Rambla wasn't always a promenade. Its name comes from the Arabic ramla, a sandy watercourse, and that's exactly what it was: a seasonal stream running alongside the medieval wall which, when it rained, came down full of water and mud. As the city grew and the wall came down, the stream bed was covered over and, between the 18th and 19th centuries, became the tree-lined boulevard you see today, a little over a kilometre long between Plaça de Catalunya and the port.

2The Liceu

Beside you stands the Gran Teatre del Liceu, opened in 1847 and funded by private shareholders rather than the crown, unlike many European opera houses. Its history is marked by misfortune: fire destroyed it in 1861; on 7 November 1893 the anarchist Santiago Salvador hurled two bombs into the stalls during a performance of «William Tell», killing some twenty people; and in 1994 another fire gutted it. It reopened in 1999.

Few opera houses in the world have risen from their ashes as many times.

3What to look for

• The Miró mosaic, in the painter's signature primary colours.
• The Liceu's façade, surprisingly modest for a great opera house.
• The Umbrella House, opposite, with its Chinese dragon and parasols.