Visit 'modernist' cultural bars when in Barcelona

Writer recommends the haunt of authors past as a top place to eat

Travellers planning a solo holiday to Barcelona should explore the historical city through the old haunts of writers and artists.

Matthew Tree - an award-winning author who writes in both English and Catalan - outlined the best of the cultural bars in the city for the Guardian newspaper.

The writer noted that the Carrer de Girona-located Cafe del Centre is one of the best bars for people looking for past history and current vitality in the city.

"Now 'discovered' by lovers of untouched modernist bars, for years the Cafe ... was one of the best-kept secrets of the Eixample district," Mr Tree noted.

"The high-ceilinged interior served as a meeting place for Montserrat Roig, the feminist novelist, and Victor Mora, the creator of the comic-book hero Capitan Trueno and melancholy novels about Barcelona under Franco."

The author, who penned the essays collected in Barcelona, Catalonia: A View from the Inside, noted that the establishment also serves excellent examples of the local food.