As night falls across Barcelona, the city becomes enveloped in a bright yellow film, a half-light from the street lamps which creates a strange, somber mood. The outer-lying areas, where it is wider and more open than the cramped old town, exaggerate this effect: the apartment blocks seem to retain the light, or enhance it, as they rise into the night. These poorer areas also contain the most drab architecture in the city. By day, as you drive out of the city past residential and industrial monstrosities, there is very little enticing about them. But at night, when darkness falls and the lights come on, it is transformed - an urban wonderland worthy of exploration.
