Later, I'll let you know more about the Basilica that is in the photo. The city is near the Collserola Mountains and has a mild climate, rarely getting below freezing.

We will visit a few sites in the city and also go up into the hills for a special treat.

A view of part of the harbor from one of the city's many parks.

This is a depiction of the Sardana dance that has its origins in Catalonia. This sculpture is in Mirador Park, where I took the previous photos.

We met our tour guide from Spaindaytours on the pier at 8:15 and Park del Mirador del Migdia was our first stop.

Early in the day, there were few people in the park. It made it easy to take photos. This is some of many displays of stonework craftsmanship in the park.

Our tour guide Christian was telling our Cruise Critic group about the problem of Catalonia's attempts to set itself apart from the rest of Spain. A referendum is scheduled for this fall and it will undoubtedly be divisive.

The local populace speak a Catalonian dialect that is different from the everyday Spanish that would hear in most of the rest of Spain.

Get a kick out of the language issue you mentioned.
DD has lived in CA since she was about 3 yo. She has studied the Kings Spanish (spain) in school and learned the local spanish mostly mexican dialect from talking with her friends here in

Silicon valleu.

In her colleg years, she travelled/backpacked throu Europe, including Spain.
She even got along well in the " Basque" region, using all her language skills.
And so it goes.

Our next stop after Barcelona was Mallorca and they have their own version of Spanish.