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Barcelona city overview
Barcelona is located in the Northeast of Spain, on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. A city of 2 million people, Barcelona is Spain's second largest city. It is also the Capital of the Catalonian Region where two official languages are spoken: Catalan and Spanish.

The city is continually reinventing itself: the sweeping urban renewal and facelift leading up to the 1992 Olympics were but the latest step in a process that started two thousand years ago when the Carthaginians and Romans settled here.

The city offers a wide variety of colorful and intricate architecture created by the world famous Gaudí, the Gothic Neighborhood, and the pedestrian street "Las Ramblas" make this city a traveler and art lover's paradise. Its history is beautifully reflected in the famous "Barrio Gótico", the old town district known as the Gothic Quarter for the treasures house of Gothic monuments found there. It is the site of both historic monuments and modern institutions. It is also the Mecca of Spain for modern art and theatre lovers. Students can admire the work of Picasso, Miró and visit the famous "Sagrada Familia".

Barcelona hosts many festivals during the summer months. These include the Grec Festival at the Theatre Grec, classical music festivals at the Palau de la Música at the end of September, and the very important "Mercé" celebration, which commemorates the patron saint of the city.

If you would like to relax, Barcelona offers a wide selection of parks and gardens or why not take a trip to the beach (25 minutes) or the nearby mountains rising up behind the city. Skiing is available in the winter, (1.5 hours) will take you to the ski slope La Molina.

To all extents and purposes, Barcelona is a bilingual city. Castellano (Castilian Spanish) is the national language of Spain and is spoken throughout the country, but Catala (Catalan) is used side by side with Castilian as the official language in Catalunya (Catalonia). Catalan was used in all spheres of life in the region until the decrees of the Nova Planta (1716) made Castilian the official language of Spain and banished Catalan from public life.

The language survived in the vernacular, however, and according to official estimates there are currently more than ten million speakers of Catalan in Europe. In Spain, Catalan is spoken in Catalonia, Valencia (to the south), on the Balearic Islands and in some parts of Aragon and Murcia. It is also spoken by the people of Andorra, North Catalonia (in France) and in L'Alguer on the west side of Sardinia. Note: Spanish is taught at our school, private lessons can be arranged for Catalan.

Places of interest
La rambla: La Rambla is not one street, but rather a seamless series of pedestrian avenues stretching from the Monument a Colom on the waterfront to Plata de Catalunya in the centre of the city. Attractions along the way include Gaudf's Palau Gnell. Some of La Rambla's most captivating attractions are its famous street entertainers who delight the crowds with their weird and wacky shows.

Barri gòtic: The maze of streets known as the Barri Gòtic or Gothic Quarter contains an exemplary collection of Gothic buildings dating from Catalonia's Golden Age in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, interspersed with Roman ruins, delightful squares and numerous bars and restaurants. Plaça Sant Jaume, at the heart of the district, is the epicentre of the city's political life. The square is overlooked on one side by the Renaissance-style Palau de la Generalitat - location of the Catalan government, and on the other by the Ajuntament (town hall).

Catedral de la seu: Catedral de la Seu was built in the fourteenth century on the site of an earlier basilica, but the spire and fatade were not added until the end of the last century. Highlights include the spiritual space of the cloisters, the carved choir stalls and the Capella de Lepanto.

Santa maria del mar: Santa Maria del Mar is generally considered to be the most beautiful church in the city and a prime example of Mediterranean Gothic architecture. It is located just to the northeast of the Barri Gòtic in the Ribera district. A fifteenth-century rose window adds colour to the simple harmony of the columned interior.

Temple expiatori de la sagrada familia: Recently the subject of much controversy over who should pay for its completion, Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece and the city's most outlandish landmark, the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family, towers crazily above the grid-like streets of the Eixample. Despite being very much a building site the cathedral has a certain beauty that somehow emerges despite the omnipresent construction.

Casa milá: Casa Milá - also known as La Pedrera (the stone quarry) - is an undulating apartment block on the corner of Passeig de Gràcia. The building, inspired by the ocean, is an incredible testament to Gaudí's ability to make stone malleable. Apartments (not open to the public) are arranged around elliptical patios with no square corners in sight. The roof terrace is watched over by sentry-like chimneys and offers an excellent view across the city to the spires of La Sagrada Familia.

Parc güell: With Parc Güell, Gaudí created a fantasy land that seamlessly combines the natural and the man-made, as well as offering good views back over the city. The park, originally conceived as a garden city, covers a hill to the north of the centre. The gardens are enlivened by fantastic pavilions, stairways, columned halls and an organic plaza decorated with stunning broken-mosaic work (trencadís) by Gaudí's assistant, Josep Maria Jujol.

Mançana de la discòrdia: A series of extraordinary houses by Montaner, Gaudí and Puig i Cadafalch comprise the Mançana de la Discòrdia (Block of Discord) on the Passeig de Grácia between Aragó and Consell de Cent. Information and passes for the Ruta Modernista can be obtained from the first floor of Casa Lléo Morera at number 35.

Museu nacional d'art de catalunya (MNAC): The Palau Nacional on Montjuïc was the focus of Barcelona's International Fair in 1929 and now houses the National Museum of Catalonian Art. The museum boasts a stunning collection of Gothic, Romanesque and Medieval treasures and religious artefacts. The most impressive approach to the Palace is up Avinguda de La Reina Maria Cristina from Plaça Espanya; the Avinguda is lined with fountains that are floodlit at night.

Museu picasso and museu d'art contemporani de barcelona (MACBA): The Picasso Museum is devoted to the artist's early work, including a large number of Rose and Blue period paintings, exhibition posters and childhood sketches. The delightful collection is housed in two fifteenth-century palaces close to the Parc de la Ciutadella.

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA):Looking rather incongruous in the down-at-heel surroundings of the Raval district to the west of La Rambla, the brilliant-white Museum of Contemporary Arts is at the forefront of efforts to regenerate this traditionally seedy area of the city. The museum opened amid a blaze of publicity in 1995 and houses a permanent collection of post-1940s international art and various temporary exhibitions.

Photos of Barcelona

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