Interesting facts about Barcelona:
1. There were no beaches in Barcelona until 1992. The seaside of Barcelona was full of plants and factories. Then, due to the fact that Barcelona was hosting the Olympic Games, it was decided to change it into a leisure zone with hotels, restaurants and long sandy beaches. Nowadays there are quite a few beaches in Barcelona.
2. The FC Barcelona home stadium - the Camp Nou, is the largest football (''soccer'' in USA) stadium in Europe and 2nd largest in the world, with capacity of 99,354 people.
3. Fans of the FC Barcelona are known as ''culés'', the Catalan word for ''asses''. This nickname derives from the fact that the old stadium of Barcelona was so small and low that many fans had to sit on top of the edge of the stadium and people walking the street nearby could see their back sides.
4. The Basilica of Sagrada Familia has taken longer to build than the Great Pyramids and is still not finished.
5. The famous street Las Ramblas actually contains 5 different avenues: Rambla de Canaletes, Rambla dels Estudis, Rambla de Sant Josep, Rambla dels Caputxins and the Rambla de Santa Mònica.
6. Barcelona is one of the world's major cities where smoking cannabis is legal.
7. The most crowded street in Spain is a pedestrian street, called ''Portal de Angel'', and is located in the center of Barcelona, right off the Plaza Catalunya.
8. Barcelona is ranked the 4th most comfortable city for business.
9. There are two official languages in Barcelona: Spanish and Catalan.
10. Many world famous painters were living in Barcelona at one point in their lives: Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Enrique Tabara, and others.
11. The Montjuic park in Barcelona is the largest park in Spain (203ha).
12. The Port of Barcelona is the largest port on the Mediterranean Sea.
13. Ten percent of the City is covered by parks.
14. All taxis in Barcelona are of the same color - black and yellow.
15. Barcelona is Europe's largest metropolis on the Mediterranean coast, and also the sixth most populated urban area in Europe after Paris, London, Ruhr, Madrid and Milan.
16. Flamenco is not well known and is not very popular in Barcelona (althrough there are definetely some excellent flamenco shows to visit).
17. Gaudí was not the original architect of Sagrada Familia, Francisco de Paula del Villar was the first architect to be in charge of the design of the church, Gaudi took over later.
18. Park Güell is actually a failed housing project. World-famous architect Antoni Gaudí and his main patron, Eusebi Güell, conceived of a modern estate similar to those found in England at the time - hence the Anglicised spelling of ''park''. But they received no interest from investors (too far from the city at the time!), and eventually had to close the project. Gaudí moved in to one of two houses built (today Gaudí's House Museum), and stayed there until he died.
19. Barcelona's local holiday - Sant Jordi’s day, when people buy flowers and books for the loved oned.
20. The Eiffel Tower was nearly built in Barcelona. The architect Gustave Eiffel originally pitched his proposal for Paris’s iconic tower to the authorities of Barcelona. However, local officials rejected the offer, as they believed the tower would be an unsightly addition to the city’s landscape. Eiffel then turned to Paris to pitch his idea and they eventually agreed to house the landmark in French capital.
