Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid and is the capital of Catalonia. It is a mediterranean city not just because of the location, its mediterranean because of its tradition, history and cultural influences. Barcelona is an important economical center and one of the main European seaports from Mediterranean Sea.
The climate here is perfect for tourist between May and September when they can expect good wheater. In august (the hottest month of the year) they can escape the heat by visiting coastal resorts. Barcelona has 68 municipal parks splited in 12 historic parks, 5 botanical gardens, 45 urban parks and 6 forest parks.
Touristic Attractions
As touristic attractions we can name: La Ramblas; Picasso Museum; Guell Park; La Sagrada Familia; La Pedrera; Port Aventura; Cristofor Columb statue; Tibidado; Barcelonas Stadium, Camp Nou; Museum of Contemporary Art.
La Ramblas is one of the most famous streets in Europe and is a long continuous pedestrian avenue where you can find Gaudis Guell Palace and Placa Reial.
Guell Park is a mark left by Antoni Gaudi in Camel Hill offering beautiful views of the city. This park was originally planned to be a garden city suburb but it was turned into a public recreational park.
La Sagrada Familia is another piece of art designed by Antoni Gaudi and is one of Catalonias most intriguing landmarks. Gaudi started to work at this in 1882 and it stopped in 1926 after his death. He left no plans and the construction continued but not in that bizarre way of his genius.
FC Barcelona Museum offers to the tourist the opportunity to explore the famous and the beautiful stadium on the Camp Nou tour which takes them to the heart of the club, tunnel and pitch where they can get a taste of the atmosphere of a home ground match. The museum has also an official store where you can buy lot of things as jerseys, caps and accessories.
Port Aventura theme park is located 2 hours car drive outside of Barcelona and its a perfect place to take your kids because this park features exciting rides, entertaining shows, restaurants, and much more interesting things. A ride on the Dragon Khan, Silver River Flume down the Grand Canyon Rapids will be an unforgivable experience for your kid.
Shopping
Its a perfect playground for shoppers. The shopping line its located between LaRamblas and AvenueDiagonal, most of this line is pleasant to navigate on foot. Several names such as Burberry, Giorgio Armani and Bally are represented in exclusive stores, but here we can find local Spanish fashion stores as Zara, Mango and Adolfo Domingues. Seasonal sales is a fun a nd cheap way for tourists to purchase nice clothes. Winter sales start around 10 January and summer sale around 5 July and during these times savings are between 50 to 70 percent.
Nightlife
Main spots are BarryGotic and LaRamblas (despite its medieval look, here you can find a great selection of bars and clubs to choose from). PortOlimpic is a great spot too with lot of bars, clubs and great seafood restaurants. Nightlife here its a bit risky for your possesions as it is known that pickpockets operate in these areas.
Barcelona also has venues as Joan Miro Foundation and the Greek Theatre or the Liceu Opera House where are plenty of performances of ballet, music, dance and opera.
Barcelona is and probably always will be under the strong influence of the masterpieces created by AntoniGaudi. This fact and the one that Barcelona has beautiful beaches on the Mediterranean coast makes this city as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.