North Wales

Introduction

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain and is the capital of the Catalonia region. Barcelona is in the North East of Spain, 200 Kilometres south of the French border.

Tourism to Barcelona increased a lot after the city was awarded the Olympic Games in 1992. Before this Barcelona was a run down port city with little tourist appeal. The Olympic Games meant that many new facilities were developed and the port area was re-developed. As part of the re-development four artificial beaches were created along the sea front.

Barcelona has an international reputation for architecture and design with an unrivalled collection of modernist buildings. The best example of this is the Cathedral La Sagrada Familia by the famous architect Gaudi.

In Barcelona the regional language of Catalonia is used alongside the official Spanish language. The people of Barcelona are proud to be Catalonian as well as Spanish.

Barcelona has a very pleasant climate. It is not too hot in the summer and there are very few cold days in the winter.

Barcelona is increasingly a popular short-break destination with flights by budget airlines making the city easily accessible.

Activity 1

Complete the following sentences. Drag the correct word from the table and drop it into the appropriate blank space.

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Research

The Olympic Games took place at Montjuic. Research the attractions and facilities found in the Montjuic area.