I've been waiting years to put two years of one a week spanish classes into practice. I don't expect much but it is exciting when our bus to Barcelona arrives at midnight in Nice and i can communicate roughly with the bus driver. Success, satisfaction, excitement, confusion. Why is it that when i listen to other spanish sounding conversations going on around me i can barely understand a word? Are they speaking too quickly? Are they speaking too quietly as you might on a crowded bus? Are they speaking portuguese? Maybe i've just forgotten even more than i realise. For those of you that don't know, i am by no means fluent. I would describe my ability to speak spanish as child-like at best. However, my inability to comprehend the language going on around me is due to them even more so than my lack of language skills. Allow me to explain.

So apparently there is another gaping hole in my understanding of world history and culture. Who would have thought... I should have been more aware of this seeing as i lived with a woman from Barcelona for about a year. All that time i didn't realise that Anna could communicate with me in Spanish but i could not talk to her in her native tongue. Barcelona is the heart of a region in Spain known as Catalunya (Catalonia in English). This region includes much of Northern Spain and some parts of Southern France. Over hundreds of years these people have developed their own culture, language and traditions. From the early 1800's the Catalans were assimilated into either French or Spanish life until they regained autonomy in 1932 and maintained it until Francisco Franko came to power in 1939. Catalan autonomy was not regained until Franko's death in 1975 since which time they have regained their right to cultural expression and varying degrees of autonomy depending on fluctuating regional and national policies during each election cycle. They all learn Spanish well as Catalan at school. History lesson over. I still feel bad for never realizing any of this while Anna was living with us at Rhodes Ave. The upshot is that i had all this to learn from Anna when she took us out for dinner on our first night in Barcelona. Tapas. What a surprise.

As explained to us at length, the Catalans have a strong sense of identity separate to the spanish They have their own language, their own region of the country, their own police, their own government, their own schools, their own food and their own way of thinking. They don't even believe in that great spanish idea of siesta. There are ways in which they resent being a part of Spain for they believe they are harder working, contribute more to the Spanish economy and receive disproportionately less funding/assistance from the Spanish government. There are a great number of musicians, artists, architects etc that are/were Catalonian, the success of whom all contribute to the strong sense of n4ational pride that the Catalan people exude when explaining their culture. All good reasons why many Catalonians want to secede from Spain.

After spending much of our first night and Day with Anna, Clare and I took in large parts of Barcelona by bus and by foot. We sampled a bit of the night life, the food, the local spirit and even met our share of somewhat insane locals. We saw Gaudi's "La Sagrada Familia", we saw a bull ring turned into a shopping centre, the outside of museums, an olympic stadium that looked more like an ancient bull ring than a modern stadium, an old fortress overlooking the port, skycars, the beach and a heap more things. The highlight for me though was the view over the entire city from from the top of the spire of the cathedral on Mount Tibidabo. Those things Anna didn't have time to show us we checked out by using one of those big red Hop on Hop off tour buses that are in all major cities these days. We think they're great. They help you cover large amounts of territory conveniently, give you a bit of info that you may not have picked up otherwise and you can get off at most of the places you would want to see.

Day four in Barcelona we noticed hundreds of locals streaming passed our hostel dressed in red and yellow, wrapped in flags and even singing chants on their way to Plaza Catalunya, a major train station, central square/plaza and the site of past anti-government protests. It must be a football match i announced to anyone close enough to hear. What other logical explanation could there be. I knew they weren't Barcelona FC's colours but for all i knew they could have been away team supporters. 38,000 of them apparently. Logical but wrong. It was the spanish national day.

What better time and place to hold a demonstration against the Catalonia Self-determination Referendum called by the president of Catalonia than on the spanish national day. We walked up to the plaza and in my best broken child-like spanish i asked an older gentlemen what the red and yellow sticker on his chest symbolised. If i understood correctly it was an amalgamation of the Catalonian flag and the Spaish flag. He explained that most Spanish believe that Catalonia is a part of spain and should remain that way. It is not to say that they don't understand the Catalan culture and not to say that they want to stifle it but that they recognise their contribution to the Spanish economy and would prefer to have them remain a part of the broader Spanish community despite their differences. It has since also been explained to me that it is also possible that the broader Spanish community somewhat resent the success of the Catalans, the region, famous cultural figures and even the heart of the region, Barcelona. The currrent success and beauty of barcelona is attributed by some to government contributions in the lead up to the 1992 Olympics and partially contributes to the feeling of resentment particularly as Barcelona flourishes at a time when much of the rest of spain is battling by comparison. Accordingly some say that economic contribution is reason enough for Catalonia to remain a part of Spain. After wrapping up the conversation with the informative Spanish gentleman we decided to move on pretty quickly. In the past i've dodged political upheaval that resulted in riots, looting and murder by a matter of days so was not keen to stick around too long just in case things got out of control. No doubt an unnecessary precaution but the mix of politics and mass cultural identity definitely has the ability to turn large good-natured crowds into even larger hostile crowds.

To our guide, former flat mate and good friend Anna, thank you so much for taking the time out to show us around your city and explain the culture etc to us. To Craig and Eli, so glad we could catch up and meet your little ones. I'm sure we'll all see each other again some time hopefully in another new and wonderful part of the world.

Ultimately Barcelona is a diverse, dynamic and beautiful city. It is definitely one of our favourites. Whether you like to visit museums or gardens, fine dining restaurants, learn about and experience Spanish and more predominatly Catalonian culture, go to fun parks or go hiking in the mountains that surround Barcelona this city has something for everyone. Even those of us who simply prefer to spend our free time sitting on a beach can find what we're looking for.