What I love about Barcelona: Culture

I fell in love during our recent trip to Barcelona - and not with a beautiful Catalan dancer, but with the amazing city! We saw so much during our four day weekend in the warm, gorgeous city that I had a hard time dissecting the best pieces. First and foremost: the culture.

The pride of Barcelona runs deep. As a Texan, I thought I would understand that, but I feel as though Texas has met its European match, and I'm pretty sure the Catalan people have us beat. Yes, some Texan mustered up enough signatures for an official petition to gain independence from the USA, but our Governor quickly shot it down. Catalonia, on the other-hand, is dead serious. Just a couple days ago, their regional president actually had the people of Catalonia vote on whether or not they want to seek independence (though it did not pass). They have their own Catalan language and even their own Catalan sign language. Their soccer team, FC Barcelona, is even perhaps more loved than our new favorite FC Bayern Munich.

Their culture has some interesting history as well. When Francisco Franco took over Spain in 1939, he was threatened by the Catalan pride. He tried to destroy parts of their culture to secure his position of power, which included banning the language and their traditional dance, the Sardana. Though he was in power for over 30 years, the Catalan culture prevailed.

All of this leads to my hands-down favorite part of our Barcelona trip. On Saturday nights and Sunday mornings in front of the amazing Catedral de Barcelona, a band sets up and hundreds of people, teenagers to deep-80s, gather in circles to dance the traditional Catalan folk dance, the Sardana. This video does not do it justice. This is a must-see in Barcelona, and an amazing demonstration of what makes Barcelona so fabulous!