Barcelona Part 1
Hello everyone !
Today I will talk about my trip to Barcelona.
Barcelona is a city in Spain, more precisely the Northeast of Spain in Catalonia.
This city is very known for Tourism. It’s a very sunny place and is perfect for parties. That’s why you can find many young people from all around the world in Barcelona.
I had the chance to visit the city 2 times and so to visit more places. This is really a big city and it’s impossible to discover the whole city in a week. For this reason, I will write 2 chapters about the city, in the same way as done for Strasbourg which will be out in December.
Firstly, Barcelona is a very big city and with a large history. Its history is mainly focused on the Independence of the region, or more particularly its desire for independence. This region has 2 official languages: Castilian and Catalan.
The first one is Standard Spanish as spoken in Madrid or in Latin America – even if it is possible to note some differences in words and pronunciation in American countries – the second language is very specific to the region and is also spoken in a little region of the south of France.
The fact that Catalan is accepted as a second language is because the region has been recognized as an Autonomy by Central Government. This gives the region more power than a normal region like in France. It is basically the same principal as in the UK with Devolution of Scotland.
The recognition has been made in 1978 after General Franco died. Under Franco Dictatorship, Catalan -like many other regional languages in Spain at that moment – was prohibited from public society, schools and churches.
General Francisco Franco
In 1978 the new Constitution accepted these languages as part of the identity of Spain. The country still remembers the Franco Era through various controversies like El Valle de los caidos, where General Franco was buried.
El Valle de los Caidos, cerca de Madrid.
Barcelona is a city built in a very specific way: Indeed, the Streets and the neighbourhood are symmetrical because the city was not built gradually and over time but under a plan.
Here is the remarkable structure of the city seen from the sky.
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as I enjoyed writing it !
See ya !
Sara