| Page Views: 192 Last Visit to Barcelona: - I Live Here | I'm inlove by Christina1881 - last update: Jun 13, 2009 |
I'll be moving to Barcelona in the beginning of July 2009 :D
The first time I went to Barcelona my friend took me by night time around the old parts of Barcelona by car, he told me about what we were passing, told me stories of the places, but he didn't tell me that we were close to "La sagrada familia" so when it suddently rose on my left hand side I was speachless...
He stopped the car, we got out - and I felt like a little girl - so amazed by what I saw. He asked me if I wanted to walk around the huge building, and I said "aha" and started walking with my eyes locked to the building...
That's when I fell inlove - with him and with Barcelona. |
A few facts Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, facing the Mediterranean Sea on a plateau approximately 5 km (3 miles) wide limited by the mountain rage of Collserola, the Llobregat river to the south-west and the Besòs river to the north.
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain with a population of 1.615.908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was of 3.161.081. It is the central nucleus of the Urban Region of Barcelona which relies on a population of about 5.5 million.
The foundation of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends; the first attributes the founding of the city to Hercules 400 years before the building of Rome, and that it was rebuilt by the Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, who named the city “Barcino” after his family in the 3rd century BC. The second legend attributes the foundation directly to Hamilcar Barca.
Barcelona is today an important cultural center and a major tourist destination and has a rich cultural heritage. Outstanding are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudi and Lluís Doménech I Montaner that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The area around the Plaça Catalunya makes up the historical centre of the city and alongside the upper half of Avinguda Diagonal is the main commercial area of the city.
Barcelona has a great number of museums which cover different areas and eras, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia possesses a well-known collection of Romanesque art while the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on post 1945 Catalan and Spanish art.
The Fundació Joan Miró, Picasso Museum and Fundació Antoni Tàpies hold important collections of these world-renowned artists. Several museums cover the fields of history and archeology, like the City History Museum, the Museum of the History of Catalonia and the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia, and the Barcelona Maritime Museum.
The Cosmocaixa is a science museum that received the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006.
Barcelona won the 1999 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for it’s architecture, the first (and as of 2007 only) time that the winner has been a city and not an individual architect.
The climate
Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate with sub-mediterranean influence, which means that Barcelona doesn’t have “the classical Mediterranean climate” with mild, humid winters and warm, dry summers.
The driest months are February, March, June and July; while the months of most rain are April, May, August, September, October and November.
It should be said though that the western Mediterranean climate is known for being quite irregular, so in many occasions averages are not what really happens.
Actually Barcelona and London have the same annual rainfall, but London’s climate is not as irregular and torrential as Barcelona’s.
As for temperatures December, January and February are the coldest months averaging temperatures around 10oC (about 48oF)and July and August are the hottest months, averaging temperatures of 24oC (72oF).
The highest recorded maximum temperature in the centre of the city is 38,6oC. The coldest recorded minimum temperature was -6,7oC on the 11th of February 1956.
(information found on wikipedia.org) |
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| Pros: | "Nice atmosphere all over the city" | | Cons: | "Lot's and lot's of turists" | | In A Nutshell: | "Cosy, international city" |
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 Comments for Christina1881 about Barcelona | | | | |
MalenaN Sun Sep 2, 2007 17:43 UTC
La Sagrada Familia looks like an amazing building! |
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