City Facts about Barcelona

• Barcelona is the capital and the most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain.

• The city is twinned with Boston, USA.

• In 2007 Barcelona's City Council started the Bicing service, a bicycle service understood as a public transport. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the 100 stations spread around the city, use it, and then leave it at another station.

• The Port Vell area houses Europe's largest aquarium, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks contained in 22 basins filled with 6 million litres of sea water.

• Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the successful 1992 Summer Olympics as well as several matches during the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

• Barcelona has many venues for live music and theatre, including the world-renowned Gran Teatre del Liceu opera theatre, the Teatre Nacional de Cataluna, the Teatre Lliure and the Palau de la Música Catalana concert hall. Barcelona also is home to the Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphonic Orchestra, the largest symphonic orchestra in Catalonia.

• Snowfalls and night frosts occur almost every year. Snowfalls seldom cause any disruption to traffic. Nonetheless, the city has experienced its share of heavy snowfalls, as for example at Christmas 1962, when a true blizzard affected the city.