/ Walking in Barcelona's La Ribera neighborhood with our guide Sandra Benzal, we observe how this trendy district has been improving, visit a tapa bar, and enter the gothic church of Santa Maria del Mar, with its massive interior second only to the Barcelona cathedral in size. The church is really impressive, consisting of a huge nave with soaring ceiling supported on pointed arches, and brilliant stained glass. This was all built during the medieval period, in the 13th and 14th centuries, so the architectural form is pure gothic. There is no influence or embellishment here from the later period of the Renaissance, nor was it built upon an earlier foundation in the Romanesque style of thick walls, low ceiling and small windows. Sandra is an excellent guide with an informative website: /