Barcelona - the pearl of the Mediterranean

What has Barcelona to offer you?

Without doubt, Barcelona is a fascinating city, located in the north-east of the Iberian mainland and extending over a surface area of 100 square kilometres between the Mediterranean and Tibidabo mountain; with its mild, comfortable climate all year round; with the hospitality of its almost two million strong population; with its history dating back over two thousand years and the city looking to the future with energy and enthusiasm; with beautiful, modernist buildings, with the latest trends in design that are also visible on the streets, squares and alleyways; with urban areas full of people and life.

In short, Barcelona is a Mediterranean city with a completely different charm, which you will discover when you attend your Spanish course.

Whether you stroll down the Ramblas, visit the Picasso Museum or Antoni Gaudí's Park Güell, discover the Gothic quarter with its narrow streets and comfortable bars, go shopping in elegant stores or enjoy the Catalan cuisine and the smells and colours of the markets, you will easily appreciate the warm, open character of a Mediterranean city.

Centro Humboldt can help you discover all this: our leisure programme offers you numerous cultural and social activities - among others, historical city tours, gatherings and exchange programmes with Spaniards - that help you get to know the culture and inhabitants of Barcelona first-hand, in addition to your language course.

History

According to legend, Barcino was founded by Hamilka Barkas, the father of Hannibal. Later the Romans expanded the city into a fortress. The centre of the city was on Mons Taber, a small hill near the present-day council buildings (Plaça de Sant Jaume). You can still see the remains of the Roman city walls in the old town. Important Roman remains can also be found under Plaça del Rei. In the 5th century the city was taken over by the Goths and in the 8th century by the Moors. In 801 it was re-conquered by Ludwig I.

In 985 Barcelona came into the hands of Al-Mansur, the Caliph of Córdoba. But shortly afterwards he left the city again.

In the middle ages Barcelona was the capital of the kingdom of and an important seagoing and trading power in the western Mediterranean, with significant colonies in Sardinia and Sicily.

The city centre

Plaça Catalunya is where the city's main thoroughfares meet and the Roman ruins, medieval city and modern layout of the Eixample can all be visited from here on foot, the latter being famous for its square blocks of apartments with diagonally cut corners or "chaflanes" and its many modernist buildings. The older part of the city is mostly flat. The newer districts are located in the upper part of Barcelona, towards the hills, so some streets are reminiscent of San Francisco.

In the "Barri Gotic", the Gothic quarter and historical heart of the city, there are numerous references to Barcelona's history in medieval times as a royal and trading city and these are often of great architectural interest, such as the cathedral of Saint Eulalia, King's Square or "Plaça del Rei", the Frederic Marès Museum and the city council building or "Ajuntament".

One particularly interesting street is the Rambla or Las Ramblas in Spanish (Les Rambles in Catalan), a wide street that runs from the centre to the port. It is full of people until the early hours and you can see a multitude of flower and bird stalls, newspaper stands, street musicians, acrobats, cafés and restaurants. Worth a visit on the Ramblas is the colourful, lively market, the "Mercat de la Boquería" and Plaça Reial with its arches and palm trees, as well as the typical bars and the world-famous Opera House, El Liceu. At the opposite end of the Ramblas to the port is the drinking fountain, "Font Canaletes" - it is said that anyone who drinks from it will lose his or her heart to Barcelona and will always come back to the city for the rest of their life.

At the other end of the promenade, at the old port, is the statue of Christopher Columbus. There you can also find the medieval shipyards, the Drassanes, which today house the maritime museum or Museu Maritim. This explains the history of seafaring in the Mediterranean and there is even a 1:1 model of a galley.

The old port also houses a modern leisure centre, Maremagnum, containing numerous discos, boutiques, cinema screens (including an IMAX cinema) and also the largest aquarium dedicated to the Mediterranean.

Text source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona

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