BARCELONA OFF THE TOURIST PATH
Philosophy
Beyond Gaudí and the famous postcards, there is another Barcelona waiting to be discovered: a city of forgotten stories, unexpected architecture, secret collections, and places where art and history meet.
I create small, intimate walks through the city's forgotten corners: unusual museums, hidden architectural gems, brutalist experiments, historic cemeteries, and places where art and history meet.
These are not sightseeing tours with a checklist. They are conversations and discoveries – a way to see Barcelona through the eyes of someone who has spent years exploring the worlds of art, culture, and storytelling.
Tours
All tours are available in English, Spanish, and Russian, and can be arranged for individuals, couples, or small groups.
Pricing depends on the group size and tour format.
Gaudí’s Hidden Barcelona
Forget the crowds at the Sagrada Família. Some of Gaudí’s most fascinating stories are hidden in places most visitors never reach.
We’ll begin at Torre Bellesguard, one of his most mysterious works — a castle-like house built on a site steeped in Catalan history, where medieval legends, symbolism, and Gaudí’s architectural imagination intertwine. Why does this building look so different from his other creations? And what secrets are hidden in its stones, towers, and details?
From Bellesguard, we’ll descend towards Pedralbes to discover other, lesser-known traces of Gaudí — hidden in plain sight, far from the usual tourist routes.
A walk for curious minds who want to look beyond the familiar Barcelona and uncover the stories most guidebooks leave out.
Gaudí’s Hidden Barcelona: Torre Bellesguard & Secret Masterpieces
📍 Starting point: Torre Bellesguard
🗓 Date and time: To be announced
⏳ Duration: To be confirmed
💬 Message me for details and booking.
Montjuïc Cemetery
The same powerful families who built their palaces along Passeig de Gràcia created equally extravagant monuments for themselves at Montjuïc Cemetery. Here, Barcelona’s wealth, ambition, and artistic imagination are carved in stone.
Discover the names behind the city we know today — the industrialists, architects, and visionaries who shaped its streets and skyline. Meet the artists whose work left a lasting mark on Barcelona, including Joan Miró and sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs, and uncover the stories, symbols, and rivalries hidden among the mausoleums.
This is Barcelona’s history told from the other side of life — monumental, surprising, and full of extraordinary characters.
Montjuïc Cemetery: The Names Behind Barcelona
📍 Meeting point: Foc metro station
🗓 November 1, 11:00
⏳ Duration: 2.5 hours
💶 €30 per person
👥 Group size: up to 10 people
Masonic Barcelona
Barcelona has a Masonic past — but forget the conspiracy theories for a moment. What if Freemasonry was less about secret signs and hidden power, and more about one radical idea: that knowledge could make human beings free?
In a city shaped by revolutionaries, intellectuals, and dreamers, Freemasonry helped spread ideas about education, reason, equality, and personal freedom. Its traces can still be found in Barcelona’s architecture, public spaces, and the lives of the people who shaped the city.
Our walk begins at the Biblioteca Pública Arús, a remarkable place with a deep connection to Barcelona’s Masonic history. From there, we’ll follow the clues, decode the symbols, and separate historical facts from the myths surrounding this fascinating movement.
Freemasonry in Barcelona: Secrets, Symbols & the Freedom of Knowledge
📍 Meeting point: Biblioteca Pública Arús
🗓 Sunday, November 8, 10:00
⏳ Duration: 2 hours
💶 €30 per person
👥 Small group: up to 10 people
Walden 7
What if an apartment building could be more than a place to live? What if it could be a small city of its own, designed to change the way people interact?
Welcome to Walden 7, Ricardo Bofill’s extraordinary architectural experiment on the outskirts of Barcelona. With its maze of corridors, bridges, inner courtyards, and bold terracotta façade, this iconic building looks like a futuristic dream brought to life.
But Walden 7 was never just about architecture. It was an attempt to rethink urban life and imagine a different kind of community. On this walk, we’ll explore the ideas behind the project, discover its unexpected details, and ask what happens when utopia becomes someone’s home.
Walden 7: An Architectural Utopia
📍 Meeting point: At the entrance to Walden 7
⏳ Duration: 1.5 hours
👥 Group size: 10 people or more
🗓 Date and time: To be arranged in agreement with the residents.
Interested in joining? Send me a message, and we’ll coordinate a date that works for the group and respects the residents’ daily life.
About Me
My name is Natalia Rubina.
I studied philosophy, worked as a journalist, and have spent the last decade creating contemporary art projects across Europe. I have developed immersive exhibitions inspired by the works of some of the world's greatest artists, including Van Gogh and Bosch, and worked on projects that brought art closer to wider audiences.
Today, I am part of the team behind DOM Art Residence, an international nomadic residency that has brought together more than forty contemporary artists from around the world through projects in different European cities.
Looking at cities through the eyes of artists and curators has completely changed the way I see Barcelona. And that's the perspective I invite you to experience with me.
Begin Your Journey
I love showing Barcelona from a different perspective — the places, stories and details that are easy to miss when you follow the usual routes.
Email: hiddenjemsbarcelona@gmail.com
Phone: +34 671 71 47 59
Location: Barcelona, Spain