This local’s guide to Barcelona introduces you to the Barcelona that locals call home, rather than the more obvious tourist sites. I hope it inspires you when planning your next trip to Barcelona.

Barcelona was fundamentally changed by the 1992 Olympics. “Para siempre”. The city still feels those changes to this day.

If I block out the other sights and sounds on my balcony, it’s the Catalan flags that I notice. There must be about 30 within view, fluttering in the summer breeze.

Espanyol – the other football team in Barcelona. Yes, there is another team. Not that you’d know it from walking around the city. I normally do a double take when I see an Espanyol shirt.

At around 10pm the air was filled with a familiar sound. Some of the residents of my block had slid open their doors and stepped out onto their balconies. They were ready to protest.

If you take the C-16 road north from Barcelona towards the Pyrenees, you’ll eventually hit the French border. And then, a few minutes over the border into France, is Spain. Again. Welcome to Llivia.

You know it’s a bank holiday in Spain when you step out of your flat and into the beginning of a zombie film. There are no cars on the streets. Shops have the shutters down. Where is everybody?