This faux Spanish village was designed in 1929 by Josep Puig i Cadalfach for the International Exposition. Each plaza or street in the village simulates the architecture of some corner of Spain from Galicia to Valencia. Buildings are full-scale, and after more than 8 decades of patina, some portions are authentic enough to make you do a double-take. Romantic couples have been noted kissing under flower-laden balconies in “Seville,” having been carried away by the romance of finding themselves almost in the real thing. Hats off to Barcelona for figuring out how to give new life to this quaint relic of the past (consider the fate of similar international fabrications like the structures built for the New York World’s Fair of 1964–65.) The main plaza is ringed with restaurants and cafes, and there are many shops selling quality crafts and souvenirs. To make the site less hokey, management has invited real contemporary craft artists to use the workshops. A dynamic new (2018) addition is the continuous showing of the multi-screen FIESTA, an 8-minute wordless tour of Spain via some intense you-were-there footage of festivals like Pamplona’s running of the bulls and the Catalan towers of people called Els Castallers (entrance included with admission ticket). The village also houses the Fundació Fran Daurel contemporary Spanish art collection, which presents some irreverent artworks like an all-male version of the famous cubist Desmoiselles d’Avinyon, as well as some actual works by Pablo Picasso. If you decide to take a mini-trip to the musical world of Andalucia by buying tickets for the Tablao de Carmen flamenco show, you get free admission to Poble Espanyol any time after 4pm, giving you plenty of time to look around and have dinner before the show.