Barcelona
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.