Barcelona is the Capital of the Catalonia Region of Spain. Located 90 miles south of the French border, this city located between scenic mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Due to its strategic location and political significance, the city was heavily fortified and did not spread beyond its medival borders until the 19th century. Today, Barcelona is a concentrated city with a highly developed industrial belt and is one of Spain's major Mediterranean ports. 
Barcelona is known for its individuality, cultural interest and physical beauty. Both traditional and modern, the city provides a variety of Catalan culture. Home to famous monuments such as La Sagrada Familia and the famed FC Barcelona football team, there's plenty to discover in Barcelona's neighborhoods. From the mediterranean beaches to the Gothic Quarter, which is one of the most extensive medival city centers in Europe, there is hardly anything you won’t find in Barcelona - this city has it all:  museums and art galleries, beaches and mountains, nightlife and fashion and wineries…the list is endless.
The Catalonia region has two official languages, Spanish and Catalan, both of which are spoken often. In offices and schools, Catalan is the dominant language. Visitors to Barcelona are welcome to use Spanish in communication, but locals are especially excited with a Catalan greeting. Especially in the tourism sector, many employees speak English. Catalan is an independent language, and not a Spanish dialect, as often assumed. This is an important part of the Catalan self-understanding.
Barcelona is the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia of Spain and the second-largest city in Spain after Madrid. Barcelona had an estimated population of 1.7 million in 2016. This population only includes residents within the administrative limits. Barcelona has an urban area much larger with a population of more than 4.6 million, which makes it the 6th most populous urban area in the European Union behind Paris, London, the Ruhr area, Madrid and Milan. It is estimated that more than 5 million live in the metropolitan area, which is the largest on the Mediterranean Sea.
Barcelona Fun Facts
 The Sagrada Familia has taken longer to build than the great pyramids. The great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt only took 20 years to build with ancient   tools, and so far, la Sagrada Familia has taken around 200 hundred years to be constructed with modern technology.
 Hotel Arts Barcelona is the tallest building in the city.
 Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, an autonomous community of Spain that consists of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona.
 Barcelonans are crazy about football (soccer to Americans). The city is home to one of the world’s largest and richest football clubs, FC Barcelona.   The club’s Camp Nou stadium is Europe’s largest, with a capacity of 100,000. More than 1.5 million people visit the attached FC Barcelona   Museum each year, making it Barcelona’s most-visited museum.
 The most crowded street in Spain is Portal de L’Angel, the main shopping street in Barcelona. On average, 3,500 people walk down this street   every hour.
 Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, spent his formative adolescence artist apprenticeship years in Barcelona. 
 French engineer Gustave Eiffel originally intended his famous tower, The Eiffel Tower, to be built in Barcelona, but the radical design was deemed   too unsightly for the city – so he had to pitch his idea elsewhere.
 Barcelona has roughly 18.1 square meters of parkland per resident – that’s pretty much a garden for every local person, covering more than 10% of   the city. There are 68 parks in total, and Montjuic Park in central Barcelona is the biggest in Spain, measuring over 500 acres.