It is many years since Barcelona was merely the capital of Catalonia. Barcelona is one of the mainstays of the Mediterranean and one of the most visited cities in the world.

"They went along the Rue de Siene, hardly even seeing the street, so wrapped were they in each other. Jean-pierre, a guide who wants to please, was explaining the curiosities of the neighbourhood, while she listened in silence.

Azaría is a peaceful, untroubled mountain village, with white cobbled streets, isolated from the political unrest of a country governed by the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera.