I had a lovely weekend trip to Barcelona recently - the easyJet/Airbnb combination really does make quick visits to the continent much easier and more affordable.

Above is a selection of images of the contemporary art museum in Barcelona. Almost 20 years old now, the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona - or MACBA as it's known - is a beautiful light-hugging and shadow-creating structure, designed by Richard Meier, the architect behind the Jubilee Church in Rome that I blogged about recently. My youngest son, Fabe, loved photographing it too but the battery on his camera ran out and he was without a spare. So he decided to return to the apartment (10 minutes away) for a spare only to get lost on his return... An hour or so later, whilst the rest of the family had gone searching for him and I manned the front entrance in case he showed up, a cab pulled up and he rolled out - apologetic but safe. Phew!

The shots below meanwhile are a general selection from a few walks around the city, including an untypical aspect of La Sagrada Família and a squishy selfie!

There are so many great restaurants in Barcelona but of the ones I visited my out and out favourite was Els Quatre Gats. Apparently Picasso used to visit it (and even held his first exhibition) along with musicians such as Albéniz and, of course, Barceloan's most famous architect, Antoni Gaudí. Highly recommended!

All the pictures were taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 and either the 12-40 f2.8 lens or the 75mm f1.8. Please click on any image to go in to a scrollable lightbox view.