History of Barcelona

For being such a large city, Barcelona has a suprisingly uneventful history. While citys like Rome, and Istanbul can boast histories of conquest and battle, Barcelona only has a couple scars. The walking tour I joined yesterday left at 9am from Plaza Catalunya and ventured around for three hours. The first stop on the tour was the birth place of Barcelona. On the beaches of the sea in 3rd century BC the city was formed. The two stories of Barcelonas history are equally interesting. It is said that it was either created by Hannibals father who named it Barcino for his family. Or some say it was created in dedication to Hercules. When I saw the enourmous amounts of fishing boats on the horizon I understood why this would be such a habitable place to live. Our next stop was the Arc de Triumph. The arc was built after the romans took the city in 15 BC. Reaching a height of rougly 80-100 feet the arch is made from bright red bricks. The romans would build these in the cities they conquered so they could march there army through the city. The Romans renamed the city Faventia and built a military camp. Some of the roman architecture can still be seen in Placa del Rei on our third stop. Barcelona was such a power house for the Roman empire because the harbor that they recieved plenty of respect from the Romans and the Catalonian culture began forming. When ferdinand and Isabella married, the knots were tied and Spain was reaching for true autocracy. Catalan was abolished but with wide spread immigration Barcelona was about to become bigger than anyone would have imagined. Now with a population of 3 million people Barcelona is a holy grail for tourism.  The computer I am working from is built into the wall and some unfortunately i am unable to reach the USB plug in. But I will find one shortly and update you all with all my pictures from the tour, Castle Montjuic, Park Guell, and the various other places that Spain has shown me.