Barcelona

In 1714, Barcelona held out for 13 months against a massive siege before finally falling to Spanish and French forces.

The angry King Philip V then knocked down an entire neighborhood and built a fortress on top of it. That fortress, the Ciutadella, pointed its cannons inward at the residents, not outward at enemies.

Today it’s a sunny park with a lake, a zoo, and a giant woolly mammoth statue.

The Romans founded Barcino around 15 BC as a small colony, but Barcelona’s rise came later. By the 12th century, the Counts of Barcelona had built a Mediterranean trading empire stretching to Sicily and Greece.

When the Crown of Aragon unified with Castile in 1469 through royal marriage, Barcelona slowly lost influence. Madrid became the center of power.

The 1714 defeat made things worse. Philip V banned the Catalan language and stripped the region of its self-governing institutions.

The city bounced back during the Industrial Revolution. Textile mills made Barcelona Spain’s manufacturing powerhouse by the mid-1800s. Wealthy factory owners funded wild, imaginative architecture.

Antoni Gaudí spent 43 years working on the Sagrada Família basilica. He died in 1926 after being struck by a tram, and the church remains unfinished nearly a century later. Kids love spotting the turtles, snails, and lizards hidden around the Sagrada Família.

The Spanish Civil War hit Barcelona hard. Franco’s forces captured it in January 1939 and suppressed Catalan language and culture until his death in 1975.

The 1992 Summer Olympics transformed Barcelona from an industrial port into a beach city. Workers demolished old factories, created new sandy beaches, and redesigned the waterfront.

Wander through the Gothic Quarter’s narrow medieval streets and find Roman walls near the cathedral. On weekends, watch castellers build human towers up to ten people high, with the smallest kids climbing to the very top.

Explore Park Güell’s mosaic dragon and curving benches. Let kids count the bizarre chimneys on Casa Batlló’s rooftop, shaped like dragon scales.

Order pa amb tomàquet, bread rubbed with ripe tomato and olive oil. Try bomba, a crispy potato ball with spicy sauce, invented in the Barceloneta neighborhood.

Save room for crema catalana, the local crème brûlée. Kids get to crack the caramelized sugar crust with their spoons.