Blessed with rich and fertile soil, an excellent harbor, and a hardworking population, Barcelona has always prospered. At a time when Madrid was still a dusty and unknown Castilian backwater, Barcelona was a powerful, diverse capital, one influenced more by the Mediterranean empires that conquered it than by the cultures of the arid Iberian plains to the west. Carthage, Rome, and Charlemagne-era France each overran Catalonia, and each left an indelible mark on the region's nascent identity.

The Catalan people have clung fiercely to their unique culture and language--both of which, earlier in this century, Franco systematically tried to eradicate. But Catalonia has endured, becoming a semiautonomous region of Spain (with Catalán its official language). And Barcelona, the region's lodestar, has truly come into its own. The city's most powerful monuments open a window onto its history: the intricately carved edifices that comprise the medieval Gothic Quarter; the curvilinear modernisme (Catalan Art Nouveau) that inspired Gaudí's Sagrada Familia; and the seminal surrealist works of Picasso and Miró, found in museums that peg Barcelona as a crucial incubator for 20th-century art.

As if those attractions weren't enough, Barcelona is on the doorstep of some of the great playgrounds and vacation retreats of Europe: the Balearic Islands to the east, the Costa Brava (Wild Coast) to the north, the Penedés wine country to the west, the Roman city of Tarragona, the monastery at Montserrat, and such Costa Dorada resort towns as Sitges, to the south.

Despite its allure, Barcelona grapples with problems common to many major cities: the increasing polarization of rich and poor, a rising tide of drug abuse, and an escalating crime rate, mostly in theft. But in reaction to a rash of negative publicity, city authorities have, with some degree of success, brought crime under control, at least within the tourist zones.

A revitalized Barcelona eagerly prepared for and welcomed thousands of visitors as part of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. But the action didn't end when the last medal was handed out. Barcelona turned its multimillion-dollar building projects into permanently expanded facilities for sports and tourism. Its modern $150 million terminal at El Prat de Llobregat Airport can accommodate 12 million passengers a year; and ever-pragmatic Barcelona races to the 21st century with a restructuring program called "Post Olympic."