Weather forecast Barcelona

Barcelona (including rainfall and temperature averages)

Barcelona, the progressive capital of Catalunya, vibrates with life. Its legendary status even extends to its beginnings: according to one myth, it was founded by Hercules four hundred years before Rome; while the other version is that Hannibal’s father built it in the 3rd century BC. What is certain is that from Roman times onwards it has been rich and self-confident, the avant-garde capital of Spain. It was not until after the Spanish Civil War that its pride was seriously dented: after blanket bombing the city in 1938, killing and injuring thousands, General Franco proceeded to do everything he could to expunge Catalonian nationalism, banning the Catalan language and moving in vast numbers of people from other region whose influences were Spanish. He was ultimately unsuccessful: immediately after his death the laws were reversed, and today Catalonia feels like a different country in many ways.

The climate is typically Mediterranean, temperate but changeable with temperatures ranging from 4º to 28º. Rainfall is on a par with London but far more unpredictable, which means that visitors need to be prepared to change their plans at short notice. This isn’t really a problem – it would take months to exhaust all of Barcelona’s possibilities. Everyone starts with the Ramblas, the kilometre-long avenue that runs from Plaza Catalunya down to the harbour and splits the old town in two, with to its east and El Raval to the west. Street performers are everywhere, juggling, reciting (bad) love poems or reading palms. Under the plane trees you can buy anything from a pet canary to contraband tobacco, or simply pass the time of day at one of the cafes.

To the east, the Barri Gòtic is the oldest part of the city with a remarkable concentration of medieval buildings. La Seu, the original cathedral, was built over a Roman temple and a Christian basilica and is one of the great Gothic buildings of Spain. El Raval, to the west, was long notoriously seedy, the place to find brothels and other kinds of trouble. In recent years, however, it has started cleaning up its act. The construction of the white, almost luminous Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona in Plaça dels Àngels had a lot to do with this, attracting a different type of visitor to its enormous collection of post-1945 contemporary art which includes work by Joan Miró, Eduardo Chillida, and Paul Klee. At the bottom of the Ramblas, the waterfront is the ideal place to spend an evening; visitors start strolling and escalate to manic dancing in the plethora of clubs in the old Olympic village.

For many, Antoni Gaudi is the icon of Barcelona. His designs changed the face of the city and the conception of what a building could look like and you can see examples scattered around the city. The two most famous are fantastical Parc Guell, a crazy spread of fractured pavilions and giant concrete lizards, and the new cathedral, the Sagrada Familia, which remains unfinished eighty years after his death.

Food is an obsession for the Catalans and they take great pride in the regional differences. They have a running war with the French over who invented crème brulee (or crema catalana, as it’s known here) and with the rest of Spain over ali-oli sauce, gazpacho and many other dishes. Special to the region are butifarra, a delicious pork sausage; esqueixada, a cod salad; escalivada, a salad of roast aubergines and peppers; and elaborate sarsuelas (fish stew). They also cook common ingredients differently, roasting long onions and artichokes in a charcoal over and eating them lavishly dredged in olive oil. A bib is advisable.