"Barcelona has Gaudi, Chicago has Frank Lloyd Wright and Glasgow has the unmistakable Art Nouveau magic of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, " she said.

BBC: Curtain up on Charles Rennie Mackintosh festival

It was tycoons, not politicians, who built Barcelona into Spain's first industrial city, as they built the eccentric Antoni Gaudi mansions that today help to draw its ever-multiplying tourists.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Spain