Spain, Barcelona: Catalan Capital I.

Barcelona! Such a beautiful horizon

Barcelona! Like a jewel in the sun

Words of same named songs know many of you and who ever been in Barcelona gives them certainly agree. Barcelona is the capital of the province of Catalonia sprawling 32 thousand km². Province that has the highest GDP in Spain, occupies approximately 7,5 million people, of which in Barcelona lives 1,6 million people. Catalonia itself is, together with the French region of Rhone-Alpes, Lombardy Italian and German Baden-Württemberg to the four motors of Europe, or to highly industrial regions.

The overwhelming majority of people in Catalonia are Catalans, an ethnic group with their own language, which belongs to the family of Romance languages. In Barcelona you will know that the Catalans are proud of their identity and yet, they are mostly due to the use castellano (Castilian or Spanish) bilingual, prefer to use their own language. Their capital city, which lies in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, is truly cherished gem. When you will go from the airport located several kilometres outside the town by one of the buses that will usually take you to Plaza de Espana, you are fascinated to see how in the growing urban areas many an interesting building stand.

It is on our circumstances bold architecture of Barcelona is not far from unusual. If you should see all the city, one week won´t be enough, so if you are going to visit the Catalan capital just a few days, it is definitely a good idea to create a list of priorities for what you want to see. Awaiting you is of such construction as Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Torre Diagonal Zero Zero, Casa Batllo, Barceloneta Market, Santa Caterina Market or Barcelona Pavilion. Given how large the city itself, it will be practical if you buy the Barcelona Card. For a fee, which is differentiated depending on how many days you buy a card (more info here http://bit.ly/PbMo2O example), you can within its services free travel with Barcelona's public transport. In addition, the card also offers a discounted or totally free admission to many different museums.
Infinite number of monuments and museums in huge area is one of the compelling reasons to buy the above mentioned tourist card. The city is offering a comprehensive and functional public transport system, which is the backbone of Metro de Barcelona, which has been in operation since 1924. Today it is made up of eleven lines with 166 stops. To explore the city center you will be interested primarily in the station Espanya, Catalunya, Passeig de Gracia, Sagrada Familia, Arc de Triomf and Ciutadella Vila Olímpica. From these stations you get to the most interesting and the most important sights of the city.

But you have to count that travelling by subway can be sometimes quite lengthy due to long and crowded transgress between stations and intricate passages in the stations themselves. Time spent there make little shorter local musicians, at least, whose rhythms are resound by low corridors. Big novel feelings are temperature differences. From the nitrous air platforms and corridors at stations with cold air moving into the metro trains. However, this is only a small tax something to know this fascinating city.

In the following parts of this series will explore such famous landmarks as the more than one hundred years unfinished Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's famous Casa Milà or breathtaking aquarium.

In the next part you will read about one of the largest Christian world churches and other buildings of famous Gaudi.