Here is a fun fact which might sound like utter rubbish in the beginning. Before 1992, there were no beaches in Barcelona and the city barely saw any traction from tourists.  There were slums dwelling on the coast and some old factories made up the skyline along the sea. The city was host to a meagre 200K tourists a year. But as we know, the city is completely different now. So what happened in 1992.

The Olympics. It gave a much needed facelift to the city and completely revamped the infrastructure. They made wide roads. The huts from the coast were removed and they brought huge quantity of sand from Sahara Desert to create the artificial beaches. Yes, the beaches are not real! Palm trees were imported from Egypt and planted all through the city. The aim was to give a feeling of Miami. And this is how we see Barcelona today with an influx of 30 Million tourists every year and lot of them sunbathing on the beaches.

Now let us take a few steps back and get further into the past of this city and country. The Iberian region which consists of Portugal and Spain has a common history for a long time and some of it is covered in this blog of Portugal. The name Spain came from the word Hispania which was given by the romans for the Iberian Peninsula. They defeated the Celtic tribes of this region and started occupation from nearly 2^nd century BC and lasted till 5^th century AD. The name Hispania means land of rabbits. It is because when the Romans first arrived, they saw a lot of rabbits in this region. 5^th to 8^th century was period of chaos with Germanic tribes invading this area and starting occupation from the mountains of Pyrenees.

Another important episode of Spanish history is the Islamic occupation starting from 8^th century AD. The religion was expanding in this region and it was bringing with it its language, cuisine and architecture. That’s why the most famous Spanish dish “Paella” is mainly about rice and spices, contrary to the minimal consumption of these ingredients in other parts of Europe. Infact even the gothic style is said to be an Islamic influence. Romans love arches and the Islam style create pointed arches which is the signature of a Gothic design. The tail end of their rule which was till early 15^th century saw constant warfare between Christians and Muslims for dominance and finally the catholic kings came to power here. This was a glorious time for the country with significant economic progress and this is when Christopher Columbus was sponsored by the king (after taking loan from the Jews) to find a way to India through sea and get back spices for rich people. Spice was a symbol of status and rich folks used to show off by putting bowls of cinnamon, cloves etc. in front of their guests. The fad went to such an extent that spices were also shown off as earrings by the noble ladies of this period. Spain was the first transatlantic empire in history as it expanded its conquest all the way to the Americas. Towards the late 19^th century the monarchs gave way to democracy and a trusted advisor of the king was appointed who was called the Prime Minister. The bipartisan system gradually faded and democracy prevailed. The government became very left oriented and isolated some very powerful people as their enemies. This leads us to a very dark part of Spanish history which is the civil war and the fascist rule. From 1982 the socialist government came in power and they had a stable government till the Catalan movement which is going on right now.

The region of Catalan with Barcelona is the largest city in it is a very proud one and they are also the richest region of Spain. They have their own language, tradition and spirit which keeps them slightly aloof from the Spanish people. They want to be independent from Spain and have a country of their own. One big factor which fueled this movement was the independence of Cuba from Spain. The people of this region drew parallels and projected themselves as they are under a colonisation by Spain and they are striving to get free. Throughout our trip we saw many houses very prominently displaying the Catalan flag in support of the movement. Each country has its own turmoil and it is better left for them to solve it by themselves. But it creates no problem for the tourists as both the sides love them equally.

Now this was probably the longest history introduction compared to all other posts from our blog. But it is fairly important to understand this as it not only shaped the country in past but it is also shaping its future right now as we read this in 2020.

Things to do:

• Sagrada Familia: This is the iconic building which is drawing a large number of tourists to the city of Barcelona. As of 2019, the church has already been under construction for more than 100 years. The church is a very ambitious project undertaken by one of the most important architects of our century- Antonio Gaudi. Gaudi’s principle was that “Nothing is art if it doesn’t come from nature“. Each element of his buildings comes very organically from the main structure and they integrate with each other in a very natural fashion. The church is no different. The main facades are inspired by the vertical stones of Mount Montserrat, the pillars grow like trees and at the top they support roof through branches giving the look of a forest. The huge colorful windows provide ample light, giving everyone a feeling of large space irrespective of the number of people inside. The building has a lot of holes so that the entire city can hear the music coming from the church. There are several towers of this church and the tallest one is targeted to meet the height of 117.5 meters. This is slightly lower than the nearby mountain. Again owing to one more principle of Gaudi that no work of human should overshadow the work of god. And many people feel that the church seems to have evolved directly from earth and trying to touch the sky because of its raw natural form. The construction of the church was interrupted on several occasions due to lack of funds. But it has picked up pace recently mainly due to the funds provided by individual doners and the money that they earn from tourists. It is better to book the tickets online in advance to ensure a place inside and also to help you in skipping the queue. We also included the ticket to go up the Nativity Towers. The view from top was just all right and it can be skipped. Now the government has given a target of 2026 to complete the church which is coinciding with the 100^th death anniversary of Gaudi. We will visit it again for sure once this dream project of the century is complete.

• Casa Batllo: When you have wealth you want to show it off. And since a hundred years back we did not have fancy cars, the main way to show off was to have a fancy house. And if you have a lot of money then Gaudi was your man. He designed some houses in Barcelona and it was for the richest people of their time. Casa Battlo is not a house with straight doors and windows nor are the floors separated by straight lines. It seems as if the ocean has shaped the house through waves and human bones are supporting it. As Gaudi used to say: You don’t see straight lines in nature. You can enter the house by purchasing a ticket (it is cheaper online) and see the marvelous interiors and the environmentally friendly design which was very much ahead of its time.

• Case Vicens: Yet another Gaudi masterpiece. This is smaller than Battlo but equally pretty. Since this one is not right on the poshest street of Barcelona, Gaudi created space for gardens and again the building is very colourful and clearly stands out.

• Park Guel: As the city was being developed, the authorities wanted to create a posh housing colony for the elites. This small hill was chosen as the location. Each plot was triangular in shape and it was mandatory to have open space for each house. The entire project was once again given to Gaudy and he started building it with his full force. With time the project was deemed economically unviable and the complex was given to the public as a park. It has couple of houses in it and the rest is a beautiful garden. It is a perfect spot to capture the city during sunset.

• Old Town: The old town of Spain was called Barcino. This was a fortified city with huge walls built by the Romans. For 2000 years this was “the” city and no one wanted to build outside of it. This lead to the Mahattan effect and we saw some tall buildings of those times. The old city has very narrow lanes and the houses were very small. Jews, Muslims and Catholics lived harmoniously for some time in this walled township. But the roots of anti-semitism had already spread its ugly wings in this city during the medieval period. It was common to take a big loan from Jews as people took it for granted that they won’t return it and push the Jews outside. The final straw was the black plague. It did not impact the Jews much because: (1) They washed their hands frequently whereas the catholics believed that god will take care of them (2) Jews loved cats which hunted the rats but the Catholics thought cats were evil (3) Jews buried their dead in the mountains but Catholics buried them close to their homes leading to rat infestation. Since Jews did not get the disease the Christians spread the message that the Jews are doing magic and spreading plague around which is the reason they are safe themselves. The Jews were pushed out and moved to another nearby city. The current old town area is a nice destination for good food and shopping.

• The old city walls: One distinct feature of the wall is that it has different structures from different times built on top of each other at some points. The wall is the old city wall built by Romans which is 2000 years old. The tower on top was built a thousand years later for vertical growth of the city.

• Barcelona Cathedral: The church looked very different in 1887. It got a facelift later and gained its current architecture. Back in the medieval days, a major source of funding for church was from the pilgrims who visited it. And to attract visitors the church needed the following: (1) Beautiful building (2) A miracle (3) A relic. This church boasted of [3]. They claimed to have a foreskin of Jesus and obviously became very popular. Vatican became suspicious of all these relics popping up and they decided to do an audit. It seemed there were 23 foreskins located at different places in Europe. Vatican declared all of them as fake and only the one with them was declared as original.

• Church of Santa Maria: This church was burnt seven times. The working class in the past had a grudge against the church. The priests used to send working men to fight their wars while they delivered sermons in their churches. So during every major protest the working class people attempted to burn the church down as they associated it with a symbol of oppression. Still the church is beautiful and a must visit place in the city. FCB donated money to the church and they have dedicated a window pane to the logo of the club. This is probably the only church in world which has a logo of a football club inside.

• The Royal Palace: This is also within the old town. This is the place where Columbus walked the stairs to meet the king asking for investment for his voyage. It was built in 14^th century. King Fernando and Queen Isabella are the prominent rulers from this palace. They made a lot changes to Spain and defeated the last Muslim occupied territory in Iberia. Because of this the pope himself named them as the Catholic kings.

• The new city and streets: When the new city was designed, the key complain the people of old town gave was that of narrow streets and cramped quarters. So you see most of the roads in modern Barcelona are very wide with huge houses on both sides. The main street Passeig de Gracia which connects with the city center is a top shopping destination lined with all famous luxury brands. The blocks are not square but octagonal. They are angled at intersections to make sure that there are no blind corners and you can see traffic coming from the other sides. In the below image you can see the new city master plan with old city highlighted in top right corner.

• FCB Stadium: As people say in Barcelona, FCB is more than a club to them. During the fascist regime when Catalonian people were not allowed to speak their language in public, stadium was their sanctuary where they were able to openly speak it. And a match between Real Madrid and FCB is not a match between two clubs but they treat it as a match between two countries: Spain and Catalonia.
• Montserrat: 40 million years ago it was a sea and then the mountains were formed. The chapel was built in 840 AD and 200 years later the monastery was constructed. Napolean destroyed it in 1812. It was restored in 1877. It was designed by the professor of Gaudi. Gaudi also worked on it and he designed the main altar.  The kings of Catalan are also buried here. The library here houses nearly 300 thousand books. Hitler also came here during WWII to search for the holy grail. Reaching here is not very straight forward from the city. You have to change buses and also take a train to reach to the top. We took an easier route and just booked an afternoon tour which costed us 50 EUR per person but it was very convenient and we saw magnificent sunset from the top. The church also houses the rare black Madona statue.

• Barcelona Post Office: Yes. A recommendation to visit a post office. But not just any post office. It was built around 1920s when the country had a lot of money and again wanted to show off. The most commonly used public building at that time was the post office. It has huge pillars with big dome and painting inside.

• The beaches: What is a trip to Barcelona without seeing the beaches. Even in December you will find people surfing. A good spot for photography is the area near the W hotel. It is a modern iconic landmark near the city and looks similar to Atlantis Hotel Dubai as this one is also an Emirati investment.

• The Pyrenees Mountain:  They are just north of the city of Barcelona. Now the stories of mountains being created by geographical forces is too much mainstream. So here we have a completely different twist. Hercules was off to complete his tasks given by the gods and he came to this region. He was swept off his feet by setting his eyes on the daughter of the king. They fell in love and Hercules wanted her to join him on his quest and to marry him. The king, like any other responsible father, did not agree and the daughter followed after Hercules wandering through the forests. She was kidnapped by a Monster but she managed to escape and hid in the woods. The monster couldn’t find her and desperately set fire to the entire forest. The princess shouted for help. Hercules came running and started looking for her but she was already dead. He threw stones in rage and screamed her name in pain which was audible to everyone in that region. The name of the lady here was Pirene and those stones now form the Pyrenees mountain.

• The villages: We went out of the hustle bustle and visited a small village called Baga in North Spain. The village was beautiful and located in the valley of the mountains. The Catalan sentiment seemed even stronger here. We also crossed the border to see some parts of southern France. The people on that side were calling themselves French Catalans.

• Andorra: It is the largest of the five micro countries in mainland Europe and is sandwiched between France and Spain. It has lot of duty free shops and a perfect shopping destination between your holiday. And we got to see nice snowfall here during our trip. The country also hosts a lot of ski resorts.

• The Christmas log and the pooping souvenir: The Catalan people don’t have a tradition of Santa Claus. They believe in a mythical Christmas log. The children are asked to feed oranges and the log is expected to poop gifts. The parents put the presents right behind the log and they continue to do so even now. During medieval period the people of Catalan used to shit in their fields to create manure. The recent independence movement is again bringing them back to their old traditions and they are creating awareness about them to get traction for their cause and to differentiate themselves from the Spanish traditions. One such symbol is a soveneur of celebrities in the pooping pose (Messi, MJ, Yoda, …). And the top selling celebrity idol from last few years is Donal Trump.

• Food: There are restaurants all around. But it might be a good idea to select places offering traditional Spanish or Catalan food. Payela is something that can be found in every corner. A tip that we received from our guide was to identify local restaurants. Here are few points which will help you in selecting them: (1) It not only has tourists but also has locals eating there (2) The waiters are not extremely polite but are very direct (3) It has very bright lights and many people are eating outside.

Best time to visit: The most popular time to visit Barcelona is the summers: April to July. But as everyone says, the city is like a zombie apocalypse at that time. It’s difficult to find a good hotel, place to eat, spot at the beach and the list goes on. We went in December. It was not that cold and a light jacket was very comfortable during the day. The entire city was basking under Christmas lights. All tourist attractions were less corwded and you can spend quality time inside them. It won’t be as happening as summers but ultimately it is about what you prefer.