14 Facts about Barcelona

After a nice vacation in Barcelona for New Year's Eve and a lot of photos I've decided to list some facts about this beautiful city.

Some facts you might know, some you might not :

1. Barcelona was listed as No. 1 in a list of Top 10 beach cities in the world, according to National Geographic and Discovery. It has seven beaches, with a coastline of 4.5 km.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Barcelona is the 16th-most-visited city in the world and the 4^th most visited in Europe after Paris, London and Rome, with just several million tourists every year ( according to the European Cities Monitor conducted by Cushman & Wakefield)

   

   Montjuic

   

   View from Montjuic
3. World most famous artists lived in Barcelona, including : Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Enrique Tabarra, Antonio Saura, and others.

   

   Barcelona School of Architecture

   
   
4. Barcelona is the center of modern architecture, being well know for Antoni Gaudi's creations. Among the most famous are Casa Vicens, Palau Guell, Cottage Teresianas, Church of Colonia Guell, Casa Calvet, Casa Battlo, Casa Mila, Park Guell and Sagrada Familia.

   

   Casa Mila

   
   

   

   Arc de Triomf

   
   

   

   Window pane - Casa Battlo

   
   

   

   Casa Battlo

   

   Casa de l'Ardiaca

   
   

   

   Park Guell

   
   

   

   Park Guell

   

   Placa del Milicia

   
   

   

   In Park Guell

   

   Park Guell in summer

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. The mosts significant Gaudi creation is La Sagrada Familia which is still under construction. The Cathedral’s building process started in 1882. Even though Gaudi spent his last 15 years of life on this project, he was not the first architect to be appointed to work on the church. Architect Francisco de Paula del Villar was the first one named to design the building. The construction of the crypt begun in March 19, 1882 based on Villar's design. In 1883 Antoni Gaudi began working on this project, and after Villar retired from the project, Gaudi assumed responsibility for the design, which he changed radically.
   
   

   

   La Sagrada Familia - daylight

   

   La Sagrada Familia - sunset

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. The life center of this city is La Rambla street. There are over 150,000 people walking along this street every day. The fact is that Rambla is not just one street , it's five streets. It consists of five boulevards (ramblas) joined to make one long promedate. Starting from Placa Catalunya and ending at the Columbus statue by the waterfront, it has 2 kilometers long. For this reason it is commonly known in plural as Las Ramblas.
   
   
   
   

   

   Las Ramblas - map

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Las Ramblas in December

   
   
   
   
   
   
7. FC Barcelona is the most famous sport club in Barcelona. The club has a stadium with a capacity of 98,787 people, ranking as the 1^st stadium in the Top of stadiums in Europe, by capacity. It is also one of the most visited places in Barcelona.
   
   

   

   FC Barcelona stadium

   
   
   
   
8. Barcelona is famous for having no less than 130 hectares dedicated to pedestrian zones.
   
   
   
9. The most walked street in Spain is in Barcelona. Down the Portal de l'Angel walk approximately 3,500 people every hour.
   
   
10. The city's founding origins are still in dispute, due to the fact that there are two Spanish legends regarding the consolidation of Barcelona. One legend talks about Hercules founding this city 400 years before the building of Rome. The second legend says that the city was founded in the 3^rd Century BC by the Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal that named the city Barcino after his family ( the Barca family of Carthage). Which one is it after all ?
    
    
11. Saint George Day(La Diada de San Jordi) is a national Catalan holiday with a more or less Valentines Day tradition like. It is said that lovers must exchange gifts between them. The men must give roses to the women as a sign of love, and the women gives a book in return. From this tradition, UNESCO declared this day as International Day of Books.The holiday is celebrated on 23rd April, along with other countries that celebrate it : England, Canada, Croatia, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and others.
    
    
12. On the most important Festivals in Barcelona, there is La Fiesta de la Merce, held on 24^th of September each year, and is held in honor of the Cities Patron Saint and Protector, The Virgin de La Merce. It became an official city holiday in 1871.
    
    
13. Over 35% of the trips taken by people around the city are walked or biked, not done by car.

    

    Placa d' Espanya

    
    
14. The hallmark grid pattern of the city. Most of the city of Barcelona was designed by Ildefons Cerda and Sunyer for the 19^th century extension of the city. They made a plan, called Eixample, which was intended to create the perfect environment for Barcelona’s fast expanding population. Unfortunately the plan wasn't built following the utopian characteristics of the initial plan.