"WELCOME TO MY BARCELONA PAGE......:-) " a Barcelona Travel Page by eden_teuling

This time I went to Barcelona by air and not from ANSTERDAM SCHIPHOL but from ZAVENTEM / BRUSSELS in BELGIUM which is a bit easier to reach for me because I live near the Belgian border.

It is not my first time to Barcelona but for those who have never been there I shall give some extra info here to make things easier.

It is a wonderful, attractive City where you will soon feel at home!

Finding your own way in Barcelona is not very difficult, but you should keep in mind some important references.

The centre of the City is of course de PLAZA CATALUNYA under which you can find the OLD TOWN and most of the MUSEUMS and other historical PLACES of INTEREST.
The famous RAMBLAS meander f rom the square to COLOMBUS STATUE , just before the PORT.
To the EAST of the RAMBLAS you can find the beautiful and romantic BARRIO GòTIC and to the WEST, el BARRI DEL RAVAL.

From COLOM STATUE you can follow PASSEIG. MARITIM ( SEASIDE WALK ) to the EAST through the MOLL DE LA FUSTA, and PORT VELL, the wonderful BARCELONETA AREA , and up to the port OLYMPIC (Olympic Port) .

To the WEST following el PARAL.LEL (parallel avenue) you get to the Plaça d'ESPAGNA , from where MONTJUIC , one of the mountains of Barcelona, rises.

The other mountain, TIBIDABO , marks the Northern limit of the City.

The Popular Av. DIAGONAL is another important LANDMARK , since it runs diagonally across the whole City!

Between the DIAGONAL and Pl. CATALUNYA lies most of the "EIXAMPLE" AREA (Widening area) which arose from the famous "PLA CERDà" (CERDA'S PLANNING OF THE CITY) and aimed joining the old town with the new villages around, which are now part of Barcelona.

Those villages, such as GRACIA, LES CORTS, SARRIA-SANT GERVASIETC , have remained untouched and have kept most of their own historic and cultural identity.

L'EIXAMPLE, with its blocks of sqaure houses forming a gridded pattern has as main boulevard the Pg.de Gracia, where you will find the famous "PEDRERA" of GAUDI.

Other important landmarks are: Sagrada Familia (Cathedral (Gaudi)not yet finished), Parc de la Citadella, Barri de la Ribera, and l'llila Diagonal.

For more detailed info see map.

www.barcelona-on-line.es/

Oh, I could fill many of these little boxes with the rich HISTORY os Spain but I shall only tell you that there was a Civil War in 1936 that destroyed SPAIN completely and which was followed by 36 YEARS of MILITAIRY DICTATORSHIP of General FRANCO!!

After that War he started his new career as DICTATOR with killing 40.000 former members of the opposition.
SPAIN was dying............

But after Franco's death in 1975 after a lengthy death-struggle!

King Juan Carlos could come back from being in exile and HE MADE SPAIN A DEMOCRACY......

Next chapter is for Queen Sophie, his (Greek) wife......

Although he was fond of Hitler and his ally he refused to send troops to the front.