Barcelona

Mediterranean. Two thousand years of history. Open to every innovation. Welcoming, plural, diverse. A city to live and share. If you come to Barcelona, it will be an unforggetable experience for you!

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, capital city the autonomous community of Catalonia and the province with the same name. It is located in the comarca of Barcelonès, along the Mediterranean coast (41°23′N 2°11′E) between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs. It is 160 km (100 mi) south of the Pyrenees mountain range. The population of the city proper is 1,593,075 (est. 2005), while the population of the metropolitan area is 4,686,701 (est. 2005). Population of the province of Barcelona is 5,226,354 (est. 2005), although this only covers 7,733 km² (3,000 mi²) around the city. The mayor of Barcelona is Jordi Hereu.

But Barcelona is now very open to people from around the world. arcelona numbers around 230,942 immigrants, many of them from Spain’s former possessions in Latin America, particularly Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. There are large numbers of Moroccan, Pakistani, and Eastern European immigrants, especially from Romania and the Ukraine.

Recent monthly protests by African, Indian, Latin American, Pakistani, and other immigrants demanding Spanish citizenship have created outcrys for immigration reform. Various catalan anarchist organizations like the CGT have helped organize the manifestacions or protests that might lead from Plaça Universitat through Plaça Catalunya on through La Rambla. Common chants have been “Fora la Llei d’Estrangeria” meaning in catalan that the Alien is outside the law, or “Papers Per A Tothom” which means papers for all. This is to raise awareness of the thousands of morrocans, pakistanis, and nigerians working and living in a shadow economy of crowded flats in immigrant neighborhoods, a sometimes accepting, sometimes hateful society devided on the controversial topic of immigration because of crime and unemployment, and constant fear of being deported back to a repressive home country. Many of the immigrants are a visible presence to the Barcelona tourist, who will see them selling beer, hash, or sex late at night around la Rambla and the surrounding neighborhoods like El Raval and Barri Gòtic. While catalan participation at protests for granting anmesty to immigrants is low, the Muslim association of Catalonia recieved a roar of applause for their participation in the protest against the Iraq war a year after the invasion.

Barcelona is now the european city of the Peace and the european city of the Design. You can get more information in www.wikipedia.org, www.wikitravel.org and www.bcn.es, if you come to Barcelona, it will be an unforggetable experience for you!

If you want to see more photos from BCN you can visit this amazing Barcelona Photos Contest: http://www.bcn.es/concursfotografic