Barcelona
Catalonia's Mediterranean capital, city of Gaudi
Few cities marry sea and mountain, order and fantasy, the way Barcelona does. The gridded Eixample district marches in perfect chamfered blocks toward the hills, only to be interrupted by the dripping stone spires of Gaudí's unfinished Sagrada Família. Down the slope, the medieval Gothic Quarter tangles around the cathedral, and the whole city tilts toward a Mediterranean beachfront. Capital of Catalonia and home to some 5.7 million people in its metro area, Barcelona is fiercely proud of its own language, cuisine, and identity.
The city lies on a coastal plain hemmed between the Mediterranean and the Collserola hills, with the rounded peak of Tibidabo rising to 512 metres behind it and the lone hill of Montjuïc overlooking the port. Two rivers, the Besòs and the Llobregat, bracket the urban area. The climate is classically Mediterranean — warm, dry summers and mild winters — and the famous nineteenth-century Eixample grid, designed by Ildefons Cerdà, was laid out to bring light and air to a once-cramped walled town.
The Romans founded Barcino here around 15 BCE, and the city grew under Visigoths, Moors, and the medieval Counts of Barcelona into a Mediterranean trading power. The industrial nineteenth century brought wealth and the architectural explosion of Catalan Modernisme, and the 1992 Olympics transformed the waterfront and announced the city to the world. Today Barcelona is Spain's second city, a design and tourism magnet, and the political heart of Catalan nationalism.