Carrer de Montcada, Barcelona

Do you have favourite places that you like to return to when you're in the area? I do, and when I go to Barcelona one of those places is Carrer de Montcada in the old town, a street of marvel and wonder. It's a narrow, pedestrianised street with tall Gothic buildings on either side built with large chunks of grim stone, fitting for the palaces and homes of the Montcada family it's named after. I always reach it by walking along Carrer de la Princesa and taking a right into the cool and shady Montcada Street.

It's a street of museums that have taken over the palaces of yesteryear, the main one being the Picasso Museum. It's made up of 15 galleries spread around the first floor of the palaces on one side of the street and includes many of Picasso's early drawings and paintings from when he lived in Barcelona. It also includes 'Las Meninas' and many studies for the painting. It's quite fascinating seeing Picasso's early works as he dabbled in a variety of styles until he discovered his own. It also houses a big art shop and a lovely cafe in one of the courtyards, dotted with umbrellas to keep the sun off.

There are other museums and galleries along the street, including one dedicate to textiles and another about native South American cultures.

Further down the street used to be a great little pizza place, Pizza Nostra, that found great favour with me by serving 'half and half' pizzas, pizzas with different toppings on the same base - one half this, the other half that. Unfortunately it seems to have closed just when I was looking forward to lunch. Building work was going on inside so I hope it's just being re-modelled and will re-open.

Further down the street is a shop called Artesania I Coses, which translated from Catalan means 'crafts and things'. It is a marvellous little shop that sells the most gloriously colourful ceramics, bowls, plates, mugs, vases, jugs and other decorative stuff. On every trip I buy more bowls for use in the kitchen and on the table - they are gorgeous and cry out to be used in daily life rather than being put away in cabinets. On this trip I bought seven bowls of different shapes, sizes and colours. Prices are very reasonable and they wrap them up well for travelling, in three layers of several sheets of newspaper and then in brown paper for security. I'd happily buy more but there's a limit to how much I can get into one suitcase. Of course, I'll get more on my next trip to Barcelona - there's always space for more.

At the bottom of the street is long narrow square, ideal for sitting under the shady trees with an ice cream bought from the little ice cream shop at the end of Montcada Street. I had a large coconut ice cream eaten with a tiny plastic spoon they give you. Yum.

On the way back up the street it's nice to visit La Princesa 23 on Carrer de la Princesa, a great restaurant/bar that serves excellent food and drink, including Newcastle Brown Ale. La Princesa is decorated in a Moroccan style, all arches and tile-work, wrought iron lampshades and big sofas at the back for lounging on with a cool drink. The food is cheap and plentiful, the staff are always friendly and on-hand when you want them but don't pester, and I'm always happy to leave a big tip. On our last afternoon we went there for a farewell glass of Cava that came with a cherry bobbing in the bubbles as we sat on the big red sofas at the back. It feels very relaxed and comfortable and I'd recommend it to anyone.

So there you are, my tale of just one street in Barcelona, and there are so many more...