Barcelona prides itself on its individuality. The first thing to understand about the region of Catalunya, of which Barcelona is the leading city, is that it is not really Spain, despite the fact that it uses Spanish money, pays Spanish taxes, votes in Spanish national elections and is technically still a part of Spain. It is a semiautonomous region, one that has its own special history and language, which it has fought arduously to preserve. In fact, for years the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco tried, unsuccessfully, to eradicate the Catalan language and erase the Catalonian identity.
