Afternoon all. For those of you who don’t already know her, I want introduce you to fab food and lifestyle photographer Jemma Watts, who will be featuring regularly on the blog going forward.

You may remember my glamorous gold inspiration post, for which Jemma was the photographer? You will see from that shoot that Jemma is also a wedding photographer and for more info please visit her wedding website Pearl Pictures.

So, today I am featuring some stunning photos that Jemma took on a recent trip to Barcelona – which portray the normal side of life in the very beautiful city.

The photos above and below are of the cathedral in the Barri Gotic area of Barcelona – full of architecture, old narrow streets and scary gargoyles!

I think this is one of those human statues  - but she looks so statue like I am not sure! Would be spooky passing her in the old winding streets on your own!

I love these funny looking buildings – they look like something from Star Wars! They are all created by architect Antoni Goadi and are truly unmistakable!

This Gaudi house looks even more otherworldly all lit up at night!

This is Las Arenas – The Bull Ring – which is now a shopping centre, built by architect Sir Richard Rogers. The whole bull ring had to be raised a few metres from the ground – how the hell did they do that?!

Oooh, pretty rainbow and lovely view of the city.

There are vast food markets in Barcelona where you can pick up all kinds of weird and wonderful delights. The Iberico hams hanging up in the pic below make great tapas.

Barcelona comes alive at night, with things not even starting until around 11pm – with it being fairly normal to return home at 4am, even on a school night!

More Gaudi architecture here - Park Guell is part of the UNESCO World Heritage and is a garden complex that houses a series of dynamically designed buildings, including Gaudí’s house.

This is Park Guell again and these Doric columns support the roof of the lower court which forms the central terrace, with serpentine seating round its edge.

More pretty architecture at the Park Guell – you would certainly not be short of sights in Barcelona.

This is the Sagrada Familia – the unfinished Gaudi creation, and also his grave. This striking building is sometimes breathtaking and at other time grotesque – often described as melting. A dome is being built in the middle of the spires and eventually it will rise 170m high into the Barcelona skyline.

I have not been to Barcelona, but certainly want to go after seeing these photos. Have you been, or do you fancy it now? I went to Granada in southern Spain in December, which was wonderful – see here for the post and photos.

I have a fab guest post lined up from Jemma, involving the Seychelles no less, so look out for that!

Have a lovely afternoon and I shall be back soon xx