Six of Europe's top opera venues to visit this autumn

Fancy watching opera at one of Europe’s top venues this autumn? Cathy Desmond selects six of the best, from Barcelona to a floating stage on Lake Constance

THERE has been much hand-wringing over the lack of a national opera house in our capital and it seems there won’t be one any time soon. If you are enamoured of Verdi, partial to Puccini and hanker for the grandeur of a big house, here are some suggestions for autumn classical escapades for opera buffs with connections out of Cork or Shannon. With a journey time of around three hours you could be popping your prosecco cork in the crush bar at your chosen destination in not much more time than it might take you to get to Dublin on a good day.

Seaside Barcelona