From upper left: Barcelona skyline, Castell dels Tres Dragons, Port of Barcelona, Sagrada Família, Camp Nou, Mar Bella beach

Barcelona (English /bɑrsɨˈloʊnə/, Catalan: [bərsəˈɫonə], Spanish: [barθeˈlona]) is the capital of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of 101.4 km (39 sq mi). The urban area of Barcelona extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of between 4.2 and 4.5 million within an area of 803 km² (310 sq mi),^[1][2] being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, the Ruhr, Madrid and Milan. About five million^{[3][4][5][6][7]} people live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. It is also the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea. It is located on the Mediterranean coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs and is bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola ridge (512 m/1,680 ft).

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona