I was excited to come to Barcelona but part of me was worried that I
wouldn't identify much with the culture. In a tradition dominated
Catholic country that naps mid-day, kills bulls for sport, and is
reported to celebrate "machisimo" I wasn't sure how I would fit in.

Ironically, I didn't have to worry about any of this because we
quickly discovered that Barcelona isn't Spanish, it's Catalan.
Although technically Barcelona is part of Spain, it's widely
recognized as the capital of a region called Catalunya, which is very
different from the rest of the country.

In Barcelona the food is Catalan, the language is Catalan, and even
the values are Catalan. (One good example of this is that
bull-fighting will be outlawed as of 2011, and the only remaining
bull-fighting ring in the area - shown here - will be used for
something else.)

The differences were obvious immediately when we got off the train and
saw how progressive things seemed to be. Barcelona has reminded me of
San Francisco more than any place we've been in Europe, and in fact,
it was named a "sister city" of San Francisco in 2010.

You can also see the progressive spirit in Barcelona's focus on
developing technology as well as in the food, which has been extremely
creative. In the restaurants we've visited there has been a lot of
effort to create new versions of traditional foods, and to really
experiment with the food itself.

I felt much more at home in Barcelona than I expected, and this is one
city I plan to return to again and again. I was hoping I would have more opportunities to see traditional "Spanish culture" (because apparently
San Sebastian is Basque, and Rioja may be a mix) but I think I am probably
seeing the parts of Spain I'll enjoy the most. The one disappointment
for me was that all the signs have been in Catalan, and although
people speak Spanish it's not as preferred, so my opportunities to
practice Spanish were more limited than I'd hoped.