Barcelona

<BODY> <h2>Barcelona</h2><br> Barcelona mixes styles like no other metropolis. A city both gothic and modern, it is a showcase of architectural treasures and a plethora of plastic arts. Its uniqueness lies as much in its geography as in its history. Wherever you look, the city's independence from the rest of the peninsula and the world is manifest in the shapes, objects, and styles that Barcelonans seem to cultivate. From the roof of the <B>Pedrera</B>, an apartment block designed by <B>Antoni Gaudi</B>, the view of its architecture seems to defy order and logic. The city is a kind of living painting, and the Mediterranean atmosphere is apparently the only influence it will tolerate from the outside world. The city's history is embodied in its neighborhoods. From the <B>Barrio Gotico</B> to the village of <B>Montjuic</B>, built to host Barcelona's 1929 World Exhibition, and from the <B>Eixample</B> to the new Olympic Port, each district bears witness to a key period in the city's history. Cut off from the rest of Spain during the civil war and oppressed by Franco's yoke, Barcelona now claims for Catalonia and itself an identity defined by a language, a culture, and - perhaps most importantly - an economy that set it apart from the rest of the country. Barcelona is a festival unto itself, and diversity is its only watchword. 07DR<BR> <B>Level 1</B> - JSCA 30 min.<br> <B>Level 2</B> - CA 52 min.<BR> <B>Associated Program:</B> <a href= "../ttlmnp0322-.cfm"target="MAINBODY"><I>Spain 1: Barcelona and Santiago</I></a> <A HREF="index.htm" target=_top>Home</a><br> </BODY>