Last Updated on 4th January 2023 by Sophie Nadeau
Barcelona is a buzzing and lively city on the Eastern coast of Spain in Europe. Home to delights such as Gaudi architecture, a fantastic foodie scene, and even several beaches, it’s no surprise that the capital of Catalonia regularly tops lists of the best places to visit in Europe. And if all of that hasn’t inspired you to visit, here are the best Barcelona quotes and sayings about Barcelona that will make you want to book a plane ticket asap.
Barcelona has a population of around 1.6 million residents and is rich in history and culture. Some of the top highlights of the European city include wandering around the Gothic neighbourhood, discovering local cuisine, and heading on nearby day trips to places such as Girona and Figueres.
If you’re planning on spending a long weekend in the city, check out our suggestions for spending 3 days in Barcelona. For even more Spain inspiration, be sure to check out our guide to the best quotes about Spain.
Best Barcelona Quotes
‘Allow me to state here how much I love Barcelona, an admirable city, a city full of life, intense, a port open to the past and future.’ – Le Corbusier
‘After a while, dawn tinged the sky with amber, and Barcelona woke up. We heard the distant bells from the basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, just emerging from the mist on the other side of the harbour.’ – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
‘Such a beautiful horizon, like a jewel in the sun, for you a will be a seagull of your beautiful ocean. The bells are ringing, open up your doors to the world.’ – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
‘By day the old area of Barcelona is bustling, full of shouting, hammering, drilling and shutters being pulled up and down. You listen out for sounds. If you want a replacement gas cylinder you wait for the sound of the delivery man hitting a cylinder with a piece of metal in the street.’ – Colm Tóibín
‘You feel like half of your life is a vacation when you go to these Barcelona music festivals and have all day to soundcheck or go to the pool.’ – Hamilton Leithauser
‘Barcelona, archives of courtesy, shelter of the foreigners, hospital of the poor, father-land of the brave, the vengeance of the offended and pleasant correspondence of firm friendship, and in site, and in beauty, unique.’ – Miguel de Cervantes
‘Barcelona is a very old city in which you can feel the weight of history; it is haunted by history. You cannot walk around it without perceiving it.’ – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
‘Even the moon was embarrassed by the beauty of Barcelona.’ – Andrew Barger
‘Here in Barcelona, it’s the architects who built the buildings that made the city iconic who are the objects of admiration – not a bunch of half-witted monarchs.’ – Julie Burchill
‘In Barcelona, things seem so different. For example, I know that it’s traditionally the least Spanish city, but you’d never know they had a monarchy, coming here as a tourist – as opposed to the U.K., where the Queen is probably the best-known animal, vegetable and/or mineral when it comes to overseas visitors.’ – Julie Burchill
‘I stopped because I went to Barcelona, where life was too exciting to write.’ – Colm Tóibín
‘The Cemetery of Forgotten Books is like the greatest, most fantastic library you could ever imagine. It’s a labyrinth of books with tunnels, bridges, arches, secret sections – and it’s hidden inside an old palace in the old city of Barcelona.’ – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
‘Marseilles, Barcelona, Trieste, Istanbul – each romances the Mediterranean in its own fashion, mostly by embracing the sea in sweeping C-shaped bays that date back to antiquity.’ – Andre Aciman
‘Barcelona is Gaudí’s and Rome is da Vinci’s.’ – Kamand Kojouri
And Barcelona. You should see Barcelona…It is all still comic opera. First it was the paradise of the crackpots and the romantic revolutionists. Now it is the paradise of the fake soldier.
‘At Barcelona, we had the pleasure of seeing the Fandango danced. It exceeds in wantonness all the dances I ever beheld. A good Fandango lady will stand five minutes in one spot, wriggling like a worm that has just been cut in two.’ – Henry Swinburne
‘‘And Barcelona. You should see Barcelona. It is all still comic opera. First, it was the paradise of the crackpots and the romantic revolutionists. Now it is the paradise of the fake soldier.
The soldiers who like to wear uniforms, who like to strut and swagger and wear red-and-black scarves. Who like everything about war except to fight. Valencia makes you sick and Barcelona makes you laugh.’ – Ernest Hemingway
‘The first time I saw her, fires were alight. It was a spicy night in Barcelona. The air was fragrant and free.’ – Roman Payne
‘I’d love to be popular in Barcelona. That sounds like a fun job.’ – Bobby Heenan
‘Barcelona is my life, and I do not plan to leave.’ – Gerard Pique
‘Barcelona didn’t try to live at the same pace as other global cities. It moved to the ticking of its own clock and everyone accepted it.’ – Sarah Dayan
‘Barcelona – the centre of the wise, model of purity, quarry of Kings.’ – Baltasar Gracian
‘To travel across Spain and finally to reach Barcelona is like drinking a respectable red wine and finishing up with a bottle of champagne.’ – James A. Michener
‘I don’t understand people who travel purely gastronomically, who book a Michelin-starred restaurant three months in advance and suddenly find themselves in Copenhagen or Barcelona with a zeitgeist plate of snail porridge.’ – Sue Perkins
‘You’d have a hard time finding anything better than Barcelona for food, as far as being a hub.’ – Anthony Bourdain
‘Sometimes I feel like I’m in Barcelona See anytime I hear this tune I just start drifting away And all I wanna do is go back Sometimes I feel like.’ – Epsilon, D. Kay
‘Italy has great food and Barcelona has great energy.’ – Stefon Harris
‘It appeared that even in Barcelona there were hardly any bullfights nowadays; for some reason all the best matadors were Fascists.’ – George Orwell
‘Barcelona was a most illustrious city for its princes and most noble – its knights; its richness and great prosperities where known all over the world for being marvellous and vigorous, and therefore, exposed to envy.’ – Lucio Marineo Suculo
‘Barcelona is one of the best cities in the world. I love it there.’ – Meghan Markle
We crossed spacious streets, with building resembling palaces, in La Rambla promenade; the shops were well illuminated and there was movement and life… I did not decide to go to sleep, even though I wished to, so I could rise early and contemplate, in daylight, this city, unknown to me: Barcelona, capital of Catalonia. – Hans Christian Andersen
‘Just close your eyes and let’s pretend we’re dancing in the street in Barcelona.- Ed Sheeran
‘Barcelona I still long to hold her once more, oh My boots of leather From Europe I gather you know, know Every time you have to go Shut my.’ – George Ezra
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