Some general information on Barcelona
Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, is located on the coast and bounded by the Collserola ridge and rivers Besós and Llobregat. The city is less than 150 kilometres from the Pyrenees. Barcelona's location on the shores of the Mediterranean means that it enjoys a warm, welcoming climate and pleasant temperatures all year round. Rainfall is occasionally heavy, with levels of around 1,000mm per year. This helps to maintain the many green areas around the city.

In Barcelona, as in the rest of Catalonia, the are two official languages : Catalan, the language of the region, and Spanish, the official language of Spain.
As in most countries, the clocks are an hour ahead of solar time (GMT) in winter, and two hours ahead in summer. The clocks change twice during the year.

In Barcelona mealtimes are usually a little later than in the rest of Europe. Breakfast is between 9am and 11am and is similar to other countries on the continent. Lunch is served in restaurants between 1pm and 3pm and dinner form 9pm until midnight.

Barcelona's location on the shores of the Mediterranean means that it enjoys a warm, welcoming climate and pleasant temperatures all year round. Between the Barceloneta district and The River Besos, the city has over four kilometres of perfectly equipped beaches which are frequented by its residents during most of the years. Barcelona also has an Olympic harbour which provides excellent conditions for water sports
                 
Rainfall is often heavy, with levels of around 1,000mm per year. This helps to maintain the many green areas around the city.
In any season of the year, Barcelona basks in the sun. You can eat in open-air restaurants or have a drink on the terraces, by the shores of the Mediterranean sea. 

      National Palace of Montjuic:

This palace, built by the architects Cendoya, Catá and Domènech, was constructed in 1929 in order to house the installations for the International Exhibition of that year in Montjuic, and to display a selection of Spanish art. Along with other buildings from the same exhibition it should have been knocked down when the exhibitión ended, but it was preserved and the Catalonia Art Museum, which hitherto had been in the Arsenal building in the Ciudadela park, was housed there.

After the customary photographs we went back through the museum and into the Club shop where you could buy all the usual paraphernalia but a nice touch was the presence of a few players who gladly signed autographs and posed for photos with the youngsters.

The club also have top class ice hockey team who play in the dome covered hall and basketball and hand ball teams who play in the square shaped hall.

The Stadium at the bottom is the Mini Estadi which is used by Barcelona's B team.

A typical street off the town centre

As in all major cities throughout the world one of the best ways to travel is by underground railway. The Barcelona Metro is a superb system and reasonably priced. Unlike London the power supply is overhead so you don't get that awful feeling standing close to the platform edge of ending up with thousands of vaults passing through you in the event of a slip.

The stations are are also extremely bright and clean.