I once saw a French film in which the action was set in Lyon, the second municipality in population of the country, and the main character, implied in the cultural scene, said that this was “living in the provinces” when compared to Paris. Without any attempt to prejudge Lyon (a city I really like), in Spain I have usually heard about “provincial life” when talking about everywhere but Madrid… and Barcelona.

Despite the fact that the metropolitan area is a bit smaller than that of Madrid (in municipal terms Barcelona is quite smaller, simply because its borders encompass a much smaller territory), the cultural weight of Barcelona is similar, and in some domains the Barcelona Brand is more powerful.

Even if this series of posts can be inscribed in the set of tourism spaces, Barcelona is a much more complex and interesting subject.