Casa Vicens

Most people who visit Barcelona know they want to see Gaudí. What most don't realise is that his greatest buildings — the Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera — came after years of practice, experimentation, and a house tucked away in Gràcia that almost nobody visits. Casa Vicens was completed in 1885, when Gaudí was just 31 years old. It was his first major commission and the building where his entire architectural language began.

Walk up to it and you'll be immediately struck by how unlike anything else it is. Where you might expect the flowing organic curves of his later work, the facade is covered in green-and-white ceramic tiles derived from marigolds that grew on the plot before construction began — Gaudí cleared the flowers, then put them on the walls instead. The turrets are Moorish. The ironwork is inspired by palm leaves. The smoking room inside feels like a Turkish hammam. It's a building built by a young architect drunk on Orientalism, Islamic geometry, and the craft of Catalonia, and it is extraordinary.

Inside, the restored rooms are intimate and walkable in a way that Gaudí's larger buildings simply are not. You can stand in the dining room and see the three-dimensional fruit and vines he pressed from cardboard and fixed to the walls. You can look up at the dome painting in the living room and feel as if you're seeing sky through an elaborate lantern. The Turkish smoking room — replicated palm trees, papier-mâché tiles, an echo of the Alhambra — is unlike anything else in Barcelona.

The visit takes about 90 minutes at a relaxed pace, and the queues are nothing compared to the Gaudí blockbusters. Book online (it saves €2 on the door price and guarantees entry in peak season), take Metro L3 to Fontana and walk three minutes, and arrive early or late afternoon for the best light on the tiles. Before or after, walk into the heart of Gràcia for coffee and the neighbourhood's distinctive village atmosphere — it's one of the best areas in the city for a slow wander.