Barceloneta and Port Olimpic

Barceloneta, once the open sea, silted in and was a salt marsh until 1753, when French military engineer Prosper de Verboom designed a housing project for families who had lost their homes in La Ribera. Port Olímpic, along the sport marina northeast of the Hotel Arts, is mainly taken up with tourist-filled terrace restaurants and high-decibel discos—it's probably best avoided if this isn't your taste. The Ciutadella, once the fortress that kept watch over Barcelona, is now a leafy park with the city zoo, the Catalan parliament, and pools and waterfalls presently threatened by the most serious water shortages in Barcelona's two-thousand-year history.