Barcelona 1.5 million
A diverse and enthralling city, Barcelona is a cosmopolitan hotbed of culture and art that moves at a dynamic pace. It is also at the forefront of commercial success and is thriving economically after the deprivation that the city suffered under Franco’s regime. The economic transformation of Barcelona from a struggling backwater to an international player took place in an amazingly short space of time. Entire areas of Barcelona have been rebuilt and major buildings renovated. The 1992 Olympics which were held in the city played a large part in this.

Barcelona can seem like an architectural ice cream parlour with its dazzling aray of styles and buildings. Antonio Gaudí was Barcelona’s darling and he left the mark of his imagination on the city in a big way, with the magnificent Sagria Familia and the fantasy delight of Park Güell being his most prominent achievements. The city is studded with modernist buildings, some of them bizarre and even outrageous. The wide, elegant avenues of the Eixample contrast with the maze of narrow back streets that meander round the Gothic cathedral in the old quarter. Sometimes seeming like the most civilised of cities, the town planners of Barcelona have been courteous enough to furnish some of the steeper streets in the town with outdoor escalators. The most famous street in Barcelona is Las Ramblas which runs through the middle of the old town, ending at Barcelona’s smart new harbour.

Emblematic of the city, the central pedestrian avenue of Las Ramblas is lined with street performers who seem to be as important to the area as the buildings themselves. Human statues are en vogue and the rule seems to be that anything goes, from people in oversized, fluffy bear suits to exquisitely painted silver ballerinas. Near Las Ramblas, the Barri Gòtic is the heart of the old town, packed with ancient and beautiful medieval buildings with the extravagant Gothic Catedral at its centre.

There are many parks in Barcelona but the largest green area in the city is the hill of Montjuïc which was landscaped at the beginning of the century and now contains 5 museums, an amusement park and a concert hall.

The Eixample or the “extension” was built in the 19th century when the Barri Gòtic became overpopulated. The town planners came up with a new town built along grids of roads, hence the shape of the easily navigable streets of the Eixample today. It is here that the striking Modernist buildings can be found, as the rich began to move into the Eixample in the 19th century and it became a fashionable place to live. Park Güell, north of the city centre, is a wonderful place to pass the hours. A daring and imaginative architectural feat, with giant pavillions, twisted columns and intricate mosaic benches and sculptures, one of the best views of Barcelona can be seen from the hill at the top of the park. From here, you can appreciate the stretch of the city, the Sagria Familia rising up out of a sea of pale buildings and the blue Mediterranean twinkling at the city’s edge.

The beaches near the city are not the pleasantest of places. Barcelona is a working harbour and the beaches tend to be polluted or backed by smelly industrial complexes. If you’re looking to relax by the sea, head out of town.

Barcelona’s airport is 12km outside of the city at El Prat. Barcelona is well connected to the rest of Spain and to France via motorways and rail, although the traffic can be very congested and the roads difficult to navigate. The trains, too, can be packed if you are heading out of the city in the summer. Barcelona and its suburbs are all well connected to each other via the city’s metro system and an efficient bus system operates to places that are not covered by the metro.