Roman colony called Barcino, Barcelona became the capital of a Mediterranean trading power in the Middle Ages, as the Gothic churches of the Barri Gòtic and El Born show. In 1859, engineer Ildefons Cerdà designed the Eixample, a grid of chamfered blocks where Modernista architects, led by Gaudí, competed in daring.
The 1992 Olympic Games gave the city back to the sea, with new beaches and a redeveloped waterfront. Barcelona remains deeply Catalan, proud of its language, its neighbourhood festivals and its food, from pa amb tomàquet to seafood.