Europe transit systems... Barcelona day 2

Amazing bus and subway systems here.  with 4.7 (1.6 in city limits)  million people in total -  it's got ~10 subway lines stretching 100's of miles in all directions.  i purchased a 10 euro ticket for 10 'any distance' trips (1 euro per ride) and promptly took 3 train rides to the ends of the line and walked around a bit... a great way to rest my leg between discoveries.  Now imagine that ever happening in the USA, heck the Bay Area with ~10 million people has ~5 train lines and they cost ~$15 from one end to the other end and are notoriously unreliable.  But here i go again... i thought i learned that on the Camino - stop judging! 

I like putting European cities into perspective with USA cities. For some reason, we don't reflect on our cities' heritage as much as Europe does.  For instance looking at wiki's entry for Sacramento - the Maidu and Miwuk were there 'perhaps thousands of years ago' and then they jump to 1808 with the Spanish... ahhhh come-on we can do better than that!  I know for a fact we've carbon dated exact time periods of native American villages that go back thousands of years! 
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Barcelona is Europe's 6th most populous city.  4th most powerful in Europe by GDP alone. It can trace its roots back to 5,000 BC.  It was founded as a Roman military outpost in 15 BC and came under King Aaragon (i saw ancient ruins from this today by the cathedral) and became the capital of Catalonia - hey! we're all finding out about this now - as they seek independence from Spanish rule in Madrid.  Haven't heard or seen a bleep about this since here. 

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Given this background, today I'll be going back to the main cathedral square and enjoy it's liveliness and historical greatness.  I hear its bells each 30 minutes from where I am staying - about 1km from the da Rambla.  Being that close to the Rambla is really a blessing. It is the vital heartbeat center of Barco.  Three years ago, I saw an amazing MardiGras parade here. Now, I enjoy walking it several times a day up to the Catalanya square.