The beaches: Port Olímpic to Bogatell
Gehry's golden fish, the marina built for 1992, and the boardwalk to the calmest city beach. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. El Peix (Gehry's fish)
Start under Frank Gehry's golden fish — the woven copper-steel sculpture built for the 1992 Games, still catching the morning light over the marina. It has no plaque and needs none. Walk a slow circle beneath it before you set off.

2. Port Olímpic
The marina the Olympics built — yachts, the twin towers behind it (a hotel and an office block, the city's first real skyscrapers), and the long curved breakwater. Morning is best, before the boats and bars wake up. Walk out along the harbour wall if it's open.

3. Platja de la Nova Icària
The first beach east of the port, named for the utopian colony that never got built here. Wide, raked, with the *xiringuitos* — the beach bars — still putting out their chairs. Take off your shoes; the boardwalk runs the whole way but the sand is better.

4. The boardwalk and the chiringuitos
The wooden walkway between the beaches, lined with low *xiringuito* bars. Stop at whichever one has the morning sun and the fewest people; a coffee or a *cafè amb gel* (iced coffee) on the sand is the whole point of doing this early.

5. Cementiri del Poblenou
One block inland if you want it — the old seaward cemetery, marble and cypresses and the winged 'Kiss of Death' statue. A strange, quiet counterweight to the beach. Skip it entirely if you'd rather keep your feet in the sand.

6. Platja del Bogatell
End at Bogatell — the calmest of the city beaches, wider and emptier than the ones nearer the port, the one locals actually choose. Swim if the season allows; otherwise just sit. Bogatell metro is a short walk back through the blocks.

The beaches: Port Olímpic to Bogatell