Travel Barcelona
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
Set on a plain rising softly from the sea to a selection of wooded hills, Barcelona is Spain’s most cosmopolitan city and one of the Mediterranean’s busiest ports. Cafes, bars and clubs are always packed, as is the beach in summer. You might get the impression it’s dedicated exclusively to hedonism, but it’s an industrious, dynamic place looking to place itself in the vanguard of 21st-century Europe with a heavy density of high tech and biomed business.
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It regards its long past with pride. From Roman city it passed to medieval trade juggernaut, and its old centre represents one of the greatest concentrations of Gothic design in Europe. Past this core are examples of the planet’s more weird buildings : surreal glasses capped by Antoni Gaud’s Sagrada Famlia church.
Barcelona has been breaking ground in art, design and style since the late 19th century. From the marvels of Modernisme to the modern wonders of today, from Picasso to the likes of Susana Solano, the racing heart of Barcelona has barely skipped a beat. The city’s avant-garde chefs whip up a storm that has even the French reaching for superlatives.
Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, a region with its own language, personality and history many Catalans think of their home as a separate country. The city itself could keep you occupied for weeks but just outside it are golden beaches, Sitges and the Montserrat mountain range – so be sure to make time for a few day trips during your stay. Barcelona apartmentscould be the right way to spend your time in the city.
On the other hand, the city presented an exhausted picture. The Metro was running but there were not any buses ( they had all been used on the front ). Virtually all of the animals in the city zoo had stiffed it from starvation or injuries. There were frequent blackouts, and would be for years .
By 1940, with WWII raging across Europe, Franco had his regime more firmly in place and things turned darker for many . Catalan Francoists led the way in rounding up victims and up to 35, 000 folks were shot in purges. At the same time, little bands of resistance wrestlers continued to harry the patriots in the Pyrenees through lots of the 1940s. Llus Companys was caught in France by the Gestapo in August 1940, handed over to Franco, and shot on fifteen October on Montjuc. He is alleged to have died with the words Visca Catalunya! ( Long live Catalonia! ) on his lips. The executions continued into the 1950s. Barcelonins reacted in different ways. Most accepted the situation and attempted to get on with living, while some leapt at opportunities, occupying flats abandoned by Reds who had been made to flee. Speculators and industrialists in bed with Franco started to earn money hand over fist while the general public barely managed to keep body and soul together.
But as any local can tell you, it is not all problems in Barcelona. There are loads of Apartments in barcelona The city’s beloved football team FC Barcelona are back on top, erasing memories of its disturbed 2007-2008 season with a record smashing triplete in the 2008-2009 season. Not only did Bara win the desirable Spanish League ( leaving their everlasting rivals Real Madrid in the dust ), but they won in the Copa del Rey and the UEFA champions League, leading to an explosion of street celebrations and Catalan pride remarkable even in this patriotic, party-hardy city.
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