2 Best Sights in La Ciutadella and Barceloneta, Barcelona

At the eastern end of Carrer Sant Carles, where Barceloneta joins the beach, is the monument to the famous Gypsy flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya (1913–63). Amaya was born in the Gypsy settlement known as Somorrostro, part of Barceloneta until 1920 when development sent the Gypsies farther east to what is now the Fòrum grounds (from which they were again displaced in 2003). Amaya achieved universal fame in 1929 at the age of 16, when she performed at Barcelona's International Exposition and later starred in films such as La hija de Juan Simón (1935) and Los Tarantos (1963). The fountain, and its high-relief representations of cherubic children as flamenco performers (two guitarists, three dancers—in the nude, unlike real flamenco dancers), has been poorly maintained since it was placed here in 1959, but it remains an important reminder of Barceloneta's roots as a rough-and-tumble enclave of free-living sailors, stevedores, Gypsies, and fishermen.

The sights and sounds of Barcelona seem far away when you stand near this monumental two-tiered fountain by Josep Fontserè, presented as part of the 1888 Universal Exhibition. The waterfall's somewhat overwrought arrangement of rocks was the work of a young architecture student named Antoni Gaudí—his first public work, appropriately natural and organic, and certainly a hint of things to come.