Barcelona has a more European feel to it than anywhere else in Spain, even though it is the capital of the navel-contemplating autonomous region of Catalonia. Its avenues could be French, its fashion shops Italian and its businessmen German. It is an immediately likeable place to visit, but getting to know it is a most gratifying experience — Barcelona cooks. It is Catalan seny (cleverness), work ethic and worldliness mixed with Spanish dynamism and zest for life in an umistakable cocktail.

Suburban sprawl aside, the city sits between the sea to the south, and hills, particularly Montjuïc to the west and Tibidabo to the north. The geometrically laid-out, nineteenth-century century district of L'Eixample lies to the north of the central Plaça de Catalunya, from where Las Ramblas, a tree-shaded boulevard and the backbone of the Ciutat Vella (old town) runs south-east down to the Port Vell (old harbour, now a marina). The most interesting quarter of the Ciutat Vella is the Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter), east of the Ramblas near the sea. The slightly dodgy but jolly interesting Barri Xinés (literally Chinese Quarter, actually the traditional red-light district), is on the other side, to the west. On a spit of land on the other side of the Port Vell lies the Barceloneta, once the old fishermen's quarter, now a popular seaside area and nightlife haunt.

Barcelona is very much a port city, its history marked by this circumstance and by its geographical position. In the ninth century, Frankish King Charlemagne established the area which is now Catalonia as a march, a buffer zone between the Franks and the Muslims who had conquered Spain, and by the thirteenth century Catalonia and Barcelona had come to possess Mediterranean territories from Valencia to Sicily and beyond. Castilian and Aragonese interests put an end to Catalonian expansion, but did not succeed in absorbing the region, never altogether Spanish in spite of repeated efforts to make it so by Spanish centralists from the Catholic Monarchs to Franco and José María Aznar. The Ciutat Vella apart, most of Barcelona's visible history dates from the nineteenth century and twentieth centuries, for these were times of great prosperity for the city, first as the motor of Spain's industrial revolution and later as co-leader with the Basque Country of Spain's newfound regionalist movement.

The 1992 Olympic Games were in some ways an interesting mirror image of the city: the opening ceremony was genuinely vanguardist but comprehensible to the general public, the games themselves were generally acknowledged to be a great success after the disappointments of Los Angeles and Seoul, and the city took advantage both to renovate large areas which had suffered urban decay and to develop its image as a modern cultural centre. Forum 2004 has not had the same success in terms of visitor figures or critical acclaim, but the urban development carried out for it has transformed the port area of the city. There is no doubt that Barcelona is still one of the fashionable places in Europe.

Barcelona Links Directory
Barcelona Accommodation
Barcelona Bars and Pubs
Barcelona Museums
Barcelona Nightlife
Barcelona Restaurants
Barcelona Transport
Gaudi in Barcelona

Elsewhere on the Net - Selected Links

Barcelona - from Virtourist.com Best of the Net
Most of you who have spent time searching for travel information on the Internet will have come across Enric Corberó's splendid virtual tours. Like me, you might not have realised that he is a Barcelona native, and this is one of his best and most complete virtual tours. It opens with a splendid short movie of the façade of the Sagrada Familia and continues with 46 beautiful, entertainingly commented slides of the Hospital Sant Pau, the Parc Güell, the Ramblas, the Barri Gòtic, Vila Olímpica... in other words, practically the whole of Barcelona, including its customs, castellers and gegantes.

Stanton Studios
An interesting proposition which I can't quite fit in anywhere else. Philip Stanton is a Barcelona-based American designer with an impressive curriculum. This page contains views of Barcelona by several important Spanish artists, illustrators and photographers.

Time Out - Barcelona
In keeping with its origins, Time Out goes where the action is, and Barcelona's place as somewhere not to miss on the new European tourism scene is perfectly in keeping. Detailed guides to accommodation, restaurants, bars, what's on, the concession to the increased age of the audience that has grown up with Time Out perhaps being the Shopping guide.

See also:
Granada Links
Alhambra Slideshow

It was during the siege of the city that Isabella of Castille conceded to Christopher Columbus the resources necessary to launch his expedición to the West Indies. This long and colorful history has left numerous imprints on Granada in the form of palaces, churches and other noble buildings which proclaim the rich cultural heritage of the city. The monumental duo comprised by the Alhambra and the Generalife, fortress, medina and palace of the Nazarí monarchs, is world renowned both for its evocative architecture and for its privileged vantage point overlooking the city of Granada. Within the same complex lies the Renaissance Palace built there in the 16th century by the emperor Charles the Fifth, grandson of the conquering Catholic Monarchs.

A Backdrop So Beautiful It's Almost Kitsch
On the opposite side of the valley of the River Darro lies the Albaicín quarter, a fascinating collection of narrow white-walled streets which half hide the traditional town houses with gracious gardens which the Granadinos call "cármenes." Here in the Albaicín is located the Mirador de San Nicolás, the famous plaza where visitors are feted with one of the most renowned views in the world, that of the Alhambra and Generalife, with the snowy Sierra Nevada providing a backdrop so beautiful it's almost kitsch.

Adjacent to the Albaicín, just a bit farther up the River Darro but still with a commanding view of the Alhambra, is Sacromonte, with its hallowed abbey and traditional Gypsy-cave residences (most of which are now occupied by astute foreign residents). It is here that Granada's "zambra" flamenco shows have traditionally been staged in elaborate cave settings, and it is here that the Granada town hall has recently installed the Centro Flamenco de Estudios Escénicos. The new flamenco studies center is under the direction of flamenco dancer, Mario Maya, who initiated his distinguished career here in the zambras of Sacromonte at the age of nine.

Granada's Illustrious Resting Places
Granada also offers visitors a Renaissance cathedral considered the first of its kind in Spain. Adjacent to the cathedral is the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real), commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella as their last resting place. (Their first resting place was a tiny chapel on the Alhambra hill which is today subsumed by a hotel, the Parador de Turismo de Granada.) The city is also blessed with a score of historic churches built by the Christians after the Reconquest in a unique style which incorporated Moorish architectural themes and came to be known as "mudéjar."

Another obligatory stop on anyone's discerning Granada itinerary is the Casa-Museo Federico García Lorca in the Huerta de San Vicente, located in the municipal park dedicated to Granada's best-known and best-loved poet. The intimate little museum occupies the house and gardens where Lorca spent his summers as a child.

Besides this opulent monumental legacy, Granada offers a wide gamut of contemporary cultural attractions, starting with the city's annual International Festival of Music and Dance, with concerts and recitals staged in the Alhambra, the Palace of Charles the Fifth and the gardens of the Generalife. Other annual festival events in Granada are devoted to jazz, theater, and the tango. Add to this the stable offerings of Granada's museums, art galleries, public exhibition halls, theaters and auditoria and you have one of Europe's most evocative and best endowed destinations for cultural tourism.

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Chronology of Granada
First and Second Centuries A.D. - After having hosted the Phoenician, Carthaginian and Greek settlements (the Greeks called the place "Elybirge"), Granada is occupied by the Romans who call it "Illiberis."

Fifth Century A.D. - Visigothic occupation, the city maintains its civil, military and religious importance.

711 - Tarik, deputy of the North African governor, Musa ben Nusayr, leaves Tangier at the head of an army of 9,000 men and lands in Gibraltar. The total occupation of the Iberian peninsula takes them just five years.

713 - Definitive occupation of Granada by the Moors, who call the city "Ilbira," ("Elvira" for the Christians).

929 - Abdelrahman III proclaims himself Prince of the Believers and declares independence from Bagdad; the Cordoba caliphate is born.

1010 - Internecine strife among groups of different cultures and ethnias lead to the destruction of the city, after which it comes to be known as "Garnata," from which "Granada" later derives.

1031 - With the fall of the Omeya dynasty, independent kingdoms-"reinos de taifa"- begin to arise in all of al-Andalus

1212 - The united armies of the kingdoms of Castille, Aragon and Navarre defeat the Almohades in the battle of Navas de Tolosa.

1231 - Al-Ahmar ibn Nasr, founder of the Nazari dynasty, is named governor of Arjona, the city of his birth, and shortly afterwards extends his power over the cities of Jaén and Guadix. He establishes his capital in Granada.

1237 - The construction of the Alambra begins, under the direction of al-Ahmar.

1314 - Work begins on the construction of the Generalife.

1482 - The War of Granada begins. Prince Boabdil siezes the throne from his father.

1491 - Boabdil, the last Nazarí king, capitulates before Ferdinand and Isabella and negociates the surrender of Granada on November 25.

1492 - The Catholic Monarchs enter Granada triumphantly on January 2.

1492 - Cardenal Cisneros decrees obligatory baptism for all the Moriscos.

1568 - Led by Aben Humeya, and due to the repression they endure, the Moors of the Albaicin rebel. Don Juan de Austria puts down the rebellion and the Moriscos are expelled from Granada.

1883 - The first concerts are staged in the Palacio de Carlos V during the Corpus Christi celebrations, concerts which are the foundations of Granada's International Festival of Music and Dance.

1922 - Federico García Lorca and other intellectuals promote Spain's first Flamenco Song Contest (Concurso de Cante Jondo).

1936 - The Spanish Civil War breaks out. Federico García Lorca is assassinated outside the city.

1939 - End of the Civil War. Francisco Franco is autoproclaimed "generalísimo," 36 years of dictatorship follow.

1975 - Franco dies, the so-called "Transition" period begins.

1977 - First democratic elections after Franco regime. The centrist UCD party wins and Adolfo Suarez is named president.

1978 - The new Spanish Constitution is adopted.

1980 - First edition of the Granada Jazz Festival.

1982 - Failed coup d'etat in the Congreso de los Diputados, the Spanish legislature.

1995 - Granada named starting point of the Rally París-Dakar, a position it will retain in the years 1996, 1998 and 1999.

1996 - Sierra Nevada organizes the final of the World Alpine Ski Championships.

2003 - Granada's first virtual pressroom created.

This article courtesy of Granada Muncipal Tourist Office