Las Ramblas
This is a boulevard with a length of about 2 kilometers, and having five separate streets end to end, between Plaza de Catalunya and the port. The Rambla is a boulevard that is transformed with the hour s passing, changing its appearance along with the rhythm of life, smells and colors of the season of the year and the time of day.
La Rambla (also called Las Ramblas ) is a tree-lined pedestrian boulevard packed with living statues, mimes and itinerant sales people selling everything from lottery tickets to jewelry. In here are people of any age and social class, shoe shine boys, small stands selling flowers and vegetables, street theaters, big business galleries, cafeterias, terraces as well as some of the great theaters of the city. More than just being a street, Las Ramblas preserves almost entirely its original characteristics, and has a capacity to retain traces of the many and varied events that have taken place here during different periods of time.
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The nearby Palau de la Virreina , a grand 18 th century rococo mansion, is worth stopping over for, especially having arts and entertainment information and a ticket office too. Just south of the Boqueria, the Mosaic de Miró punctuates the pavement, with one tile signed by the artist. There are also some especially interesting buildings here like the Academia de Sciencias (Academy of Science), with its giant watch from 1868, the Gothic-Baroque Church de Betlem, and the Palacio de Moya with its beautiful halls and extraordinary wall paintings. It is used frequently for expositions.
Next door is La Rambla's most colorful market, the Mercat de la Boqueria . This is the most important and most visited market of Barcelona , while " Pla de la Boqueria " used to be the old center of town. Come Sundays, you may visit Pla Reial for an interesting market of coins and stamps. It is a beautiful square with arcades, palms, fountains and luxurious shops and is today the heart of artists, a district with a truly charming ambience.
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The next section of La Rambla boasts the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the famous 19th century opera house. Below the Pla Reial, La Rambla becomes a little shady, with steaming strip clubs and peep shows. La Rambla ends at the lofty Monument a Colom (Monument to Columbus) and the harbor. Just west of the monument, on Avinguda de les Drassanes, stand the Reials Drassanes (Royal Shipyards), which house the Museu Marítim boasting boats, models, maps, paintings, ships' figureheads and 16th century galleys.
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El Puerto
Situated at the end of Las Ramblas, El Puerto is a port which is dominated by the tower of Colón. From the top of the tower you can enjoy a superb view over Barcelona and the great boulevard Paseo de Colón .
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El Ensanche
All the streets here cross rectangular, indeed a very curious sight in European town planning. But then again, we re talking here about the modern center of Barcelona , built between 1870 and 1936. This was built to create a luxurious district for the bourgeoisie, enlarging the city to five times its original size. The most renowned monuments in El Ensanche are the works of Antoní Gaudí, as well as the great cathedral Sagrada Familia, Park G and Palacio G , along with Casa de los Punxes and Casa Amatler de Puig i Cadalfach, all of them masterworks of modernistic style.
The central square is Plaza de Catalunya , of dimensions comparable to those of the Vatican in Rome. Regularly this square is modified, for the last time up to now, in 1986. Then there is the Paseig de Gr a wide boulevard with curious benches and banana plants, and La Diagonal , another boulevard that crosses this entire district.
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The Plaça de Catalunya
The Plaça de Catalunya is the center of the city, and this is where all the streets meet, and I mean streets as important as Passeig de Gr , Rambla Catalunya , the Rambla and Portal de l' . This square is brimming and alive with shops, cafeterias and banks; it s truly a center of urban modern communications.
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Carrer de Petritxol
Go down the Rambla, turn left into Carrer de la Portaferrissa , and viola, the second turning on the right is Carrer de Petritxol . This is a quiet, narrow street that is more known for its small art galleries, long-established shops and typical 'chocolate rooms' and pastry shops, where locals and visitors can enjoy delicious Catalan specialties. This street preserves as a treasure its oldest spots, which proudly display lovely mosaics and ceramic panels with pictures of traditional customs.
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Placetes del Pi and Placa de Sant Josep Oriol
At the end of Carrer de Petritxol are two small adjoining squares, first the Pla del Pi , and alongside it the Pla de Sant Josep Oriol . The Pla del Pi, for some years, had a pine tree when the square was first opened up, afterwhich the place was named. Opposite the 15 th century Gothic church Santa Maria del Pi stand the Shopkeepers' Guild (1685) and the house of the Congregation of the Holy Blood . On the other hand, every weekend the Pla de Sant Josep Oriol is filled with a colorful painters' market. In the middle of the square there is a seated statue of the dramatist Guimer , created by Josep Cardona , which was installed here in 1983. There is also the 'new' Fiveller mansion, from 1571.
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