Barcelona tourist information

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, father of Hannibal, who named the city Barcino after his family, in the 3rd century BCE.

The Other Legend
The second legend attributes the foundation directly to Hamilcar Barca. About 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum (a Roman military camp) centred on the "Mons Taber", a little hill nearby the contemporary city hall (Plaça de Sant Jaume). Under the Romans it was a colony, with the surname of Faventia. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins; some from the era of Galba survive. Some important Roman remains are exposed under the Plaça del Rei, entrance by the city museum, Museu d'Història de la Ciutat and the typically Roman grid-planning is still visible today on the map of the historical centre, the Barri Gòtic ("Gothic Quarter").

Roman Walls
Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated in the cathedral butted up against them; the basilica La Seu is credited to have been founded in 343. The city was conquered by the Visigoths in the early 5th century, by the Moors in the early 8th century, reconquered from the emir in 801 by Charlemagne's son Louis who made Barcelona the seat of Carolingian "Spanish Marches" (Marca Hispanica), a buffer zone ruled by the Count of Barcelona. Barcelona was still a Christian frontier territory when it was sacked by Al-Mansur in 985.

Counts
The counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include all of Catalonia, later formed the Crown of Aragon who conquered many overseas possessions, ruling the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories as far as Athens in the 13th century. The forging of a dynastic link between the Crown of Aragon and Castile marked the beginning of Barcelona's decline.

War Devastates
The city was devastated after the Catalonian Republic of 1640 - 1652, and again during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714. King Philip V of Spain demolished half of the merchants' quarter (La Ribera) to build a military citadel, as a way of both punishing and controlling the rebel city. Official use of Catalan language was forbidden, and the University withdrew.

Barcelona and the province of Catalonia were annexed by the French Empire of Napoleon after he invaded Spain and put his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. It was returned to Spain after Napoleon's downfall.

Industrial Revolution
During the 19th century, Barcelona grew with the industrial revolution and the introduction of many new industries. During a period of weaker control by the Madrid authorities, the medieval walls were torn down and the citadel of La Ribera was converted into an urban park: the modern Parc de la Ciutadella, site of the 1888 "Universal Exposition" (World's Fair). The exposition also left behind the Arc de Triomf and the Barcelona Zoo (a building originally used during the fair as a cafe-restaurant). The fields that had surrounded the artificially constricted city became the Eixample ("extension"), a bustling modern city surrounding the old.

Resurgence
The beginning of the 20th century marked Barcelona's resurgence, while Catalan nationalists clamoured for political autonomy and greater freedom of cultural expression.

Not Happy
Barcelona was a stronghold for the anarchist cause -anarchist opposition to the call-up of reservists led to the city's Tragic Week in 1909- siding with the Republic's democratically elected government during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). It was overrun by Francisco Franco's forces in 1939, which ushered in a reign of cultural and political repression that lasted decades.

Happier
The protest movement of the 1970s and the demise of the dictatorship turned Barcelona into a centre of cultural vitality, enabling it to become the thriving city it is today. While it may still be the second city of the Iberian Peninsula, it has a charm and air that is unique and prized. A decline in the inner city population and displacement towards the outskirts and beyond raises the threat of urban sprawl.

The city has been the focus of the revival of the Catalan language. Despite massive immigration of Castilian speakers from the rest of Spain in the second half of the 20th century, there has been notable success in the increased use of Catalan in everyday life.

Airport
Barcelona is served by El Prat International Airport in the town of El Prat de Llobregat, about 3 km from Barcelona. It is the second-largest airport in Spain and the larger in the Mediterranean coast. The airport is connected to the city by highway, commuter train and scheduled bus service. The Sabadell Airport is a smaller airport in the nearby town of Sabadell, devoted to pilot training, advertising flights, aerotaxi and private flights. Some low-cost airlines, like Ryanair and Martinair, prefer to use the Girona-Costa Brava Airport, situated about 100 km to the north of Barcelona.

Sea
Barcelona's port has a 2000 years history and a great contemporary commercial importance. It is the most important Mediterranean port for general cargo of containers and cruisers. The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its 786 hectares are divided in three zones: Port Vell (the Old Port), the commercial port and the logistics port. The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size thanks to diverting the mouth of the Llobregat river 2 km to the south.

Rail
Barcelona is a major hub for RENFE, the Spanish state railway network, and its main suburban train station is Sants Estació. The AVE high-speed rail system was recently extended from Madrid to Lleida in western Catalonia, and is expected to reach Barcelona by 2007. Renfe and the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) run Barcelona's widespread commuter train service.

Public transport
The Barcelona Metro network is composed of nine lines, identified by a "L" followed by the number line as well as by individual colors. Six of them (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5 and L11) are managed by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), while the other three (L6, L7 and L8) are FGC commuter lines that run though the city. The metro network runs through Barcelona and connects it to a few towns in its metropolitan area. The L9, currently under construction, will be the longest metro line in Europe with about 43 km, arriving to the El Prat Airport.

TMB operates schedule day bus services through the city, plus a Touristic Bus service. It also operates the tram lines known as Trambaix and Trambesòs and the funiculars that climb the Montjuic and Tibidabo hills.

There's also schedule night bus lines (Nitbus), operated by Mohn SL. Transports Ciutat Comtal operates the regular Tombus (across the Diagonal avenue) and Aerobus (to the airport) services. It also operates the Port Bus, a service for cruise passengers, and Tibibus, to the Tibidabo amusement park. Other companies operate services that connect the city with towns from the metropolitan area.

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Cable Cars
Barcelona also has two cable cars: one to the Montjuic castle on the top of the mountain (operated by TMB) and another that runs via Torre Jaume I and Torre Sant Sebastia over the port.

Taxi
Barcelona has a metered taxi fleet governed by the Institut Metropolità del Taxi (Metropolitan Taxi Institute), composed of more than 10.000 cars. Most of the licenses are in the hands of self-employed drivers.

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