Catalonia

If you visit my blog from time to time, thank you, and you also know we have been in Barcelona. Which is in Catalonia. Which is in Spain.

Catalonia is a region of Spain and if you need a geography lesson like I did, refer to the map below. Catalonia is the northern region outlined in red just south of France.

More geography for those of you who are geographically illiterate like myself. That whole area that includes Spain is known as the Iberian Peninsula. It includes Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar (way down at the bottom and almost cut off on this map), a tiny little area of France, and Andorra (that tiny, tiny little area circled in red on the French border).

I assumed Spanish as the official language of Barcelona. It is in Spain, after all, but in Catalonia, the official government language is Catalan. It's a mixture of French, Spanish, and the other Romance languages. Catalan is spoken by about seven million people. Most Catalonians also speak fluent Spanish and perhaps French (not much English), but all you'll hear in Barcelona is Catalan.

Barcelona, founded as a Roman city, is the capital and the most populous city of Catalonia with a population of 1.6 million, however about 5 million people live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. I was surprised to read it is the most popular tourist destination in Spain and the 4th most visited city in Europe after Paris, London, and Rome.

I am anxious to work on a post or two to share our experience and some photos of our visit to Barcelona.