re: Traveling to Spain and Italy

I haven't been to Rome in the last two decades so wont comment there, but Barcelona is a great city.

I find it has a fantastic blend of old, recently old, and modern. We stayed in between the Eixample and the waterfront in an apartment. One of the best eating cities in all of Europe. And if you like soccer and happen to be there during an FC Barcelona game, I highly recommend it. This is going to sound crazy, but we loved this weird, Asian dumpling and beer bar called Mosquito which was around the corner from where we stayed. Other highly recommend eating places that as well as:

Commerc 24 (renamed to Carles Abellan)
Cinc Sentits
Can Ramonet
Pinotxo and El Quim are both in the Boqueria and we went to both, I enjoyed Pinotxo better but both were good.

There is a Picasso museum in Barcelona but it is lacking in any of the good Picasso stuff, but I am not an art historian. The Chocolate Museum was a nice way to spend a few hours. Take a day trip either up the Costa Brava or into Montserrat or a wine region.

Great city, but I have found half the people who go there love it and half don't (and they usually prefer Madrid).