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Barcelona is the 'capital' of the Catalonia region of Spain. There is a train shuttle service from the airport (BCN) to the city center (€2.40 2006) every half hour. The metro system within the city is excellent: there are also trams, cable-cars, funinclar trains and three 'Bus Turístic' routes. A peculiarity is that no maps of the city follow the up-down = north-south convention; so endevouring to navigate by the sun can have you going at right-angles to your intention. Hold the map with the Meridiana for north-south or the Paral-lel for east-west alignment if you really are lost need to use the sun!

Hotels have tourist packs (€3 each 2006) that contain maps and discount vouchers. As the discount for the Bus Turístic alone is €3, these are affectively self-financing. A nice touch is that many places offer a second consecutive day either for free or for a small additional charge. British people may be caught out by entrance to museums is not free and should therefore budget accordingly. Museum artifacts are labelled in castillian (Spanish) and catalan. Major notices may be in English too.

There is a vegetarian cafeteria cum wholefood shop at Placa George Orwell where at least some of the staff speak English.

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