History And Travel Destinations Of Barcelona
Barcelona is recognized as a global city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts and international trade. Barcelona is a most important economic centre with one of Europe’s principal Mediterranean ports, and Barcelona International Airport is the second largest in Spain after the Madrid-Barajas Airport (handles about 30 million passengers per year). These airports accepts visitors coming from all around the world, and most of them are saving money with cheap tickets from companies like Direct Air. Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the head of the Counts of Barcelona. Later than merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, it became one of the most important cities of the Crown of Aragon. Besieged numerous times during its history, Barcelona is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination and has a rich cultural heritage. Principally renowned are architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domenech i Montaner that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is healthy known in recent times for the 1992 Summer Olympics. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean are situated in Barcelona.
Barcelona includes 68 municipal parks, divided into 12 historic parks, 5 thematic (botanical) parks, 45 urban parks and 6 forest parks. They vary from vest-pocket parks to large recreation areas. The urban parks only cover 10% of the city (549.7ha/1,358.3acres). The total park plane grows about 10 ha (25 acres) per year, with a proportion of 18.1 square meters (195 sq ft) of park area per inhabitant.
Of Barcelona’s parks, Montjuic is the largest, with 203 ha located on the mountain of the same name. It is next by Ciutadella Park (situated in the place of the old military citadel and which houses the Parliament building, the zoo and several museums; 31 ha/76.6acres including the zoo), the Guajardo Park (19 ha/47.0acres). Barcelona has 7 beaches, totaling 4.5km (2.8mi) of coastline. Sant Sebastian and Barceloneta beaches, both 1,100 m (3,610 ft) in length, are the largest, oldest and the most frequented beaches in Barcelona. The Olympic port separates them from the further city beaches: Nova Icaria, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. These beaches (ranging from 400 to 640 m/1,300 to 2,100 ft) are opened as a result of the city restructuring to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, when a great number of industrial buildings were demolished. At present, the beach sand is replenished from quarries known that storms regularly remove large quantities of material. The 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures left the city a big concrete bathing zone on the east most part of the city’s coastline.
The Hotel Arts is a 39-story, 600 room comfort hotel on the seafront of Barcelona, in Spain. Opposing to popular belief, it was not built to service the 1992 Summer Olympics, though its construction was part of the big changes underwent by the city to prepare the Games. It remains one of the city’s most important hotels. This hotel is operated by the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain. Building was finished in 1994 and it is an example of High-tech architecture. The hotel was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and is 154 meters tall. The hotel underwent a whole renovation in 2006, installing new technology and upgrading the rooms and bathrooms into modern, luxurious spaces.