BARCELONA!

This past weekend I traveled with a group of friends to Barcelona. After our trip, I decided that Barcelona is now one of my favorite cities in Spain. We have discussed in class how there has been a great amount of tension between Barcelona and Madrid in the past. Madrid is the capital of Spain, however it has no natural resources and is seen as an “artificial city”. I did not understand this idea until I saw Barcelona for myself. It is a HUGE city right on the coast of Spain. It has a great harbor for trade and plenty of access to natural resources. After seeing the city, I am slightly confused as to how Madrid is the capital of the country. While in Barcelona I heard Catalan for the first time. Catalan is a mix of Spanish and French. You can definitely see the strong influence of French in the spellings of some of the words. For instance, some words contain a “c” with some sort of tail (Ç). Barcelona seemed to be more modern and eccentric than any other city I have seen in Spain so far as well. You could find a little bit of everything there.