VISITING BARCELONA | |
 CITY TOURS SELECTION
Las Ramblas are the vertebral column of the Old City. They are a surprising walk that crosses the historic nucleus from the Plaza Catalunya up to Cristobal Columbus' statue, in the port. Las Ramblas are divided in diverse recognizable spaces by some architectural elements that characterizes them.
The first part, starting from the Plaza Catalunya, is called Rambla Canaletes, where one finds the centenary fountain of the same name. A popular saying assures that a person who drinks water of fountain Canaletes will return some day to Barcelona. It is not the best water of the city, but surely the most typical.
La Rambla dels Estudis is presided by the Real Academia de les Arts i de les Ciencies. Rambla Sant Josep (metro: Liceu) is recognized by the Palau de la Virreina and the popular market of the Boqueria, or of Sant Josep, in which the typical thing to do is to buy all kinds of food.
The most traditional stops offer an excellent quality in their products. But the reputation of this market has raised the prices a lot and makes them expensive to buy in. In this zone of La Rambla it is necessary not only to pay attention to the old buildings, but also to the soil, since in it you will find the work that Joan Miro gave to the city in 1976.
The Gran Teatre del Liceu, another big attraction of this walk, is in the zone La Rambla dels Caputxins. A bit down below, in the corner with Nou de la Rambla, hides the Palau Güell, of the brilliant Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, maximum representative of the Catalan Modernism. And the end of Las Ramblas is La Rambla Santa Monica (metro: Drassanes), where the Centre d’Art Santa Monica, a space of exhibitions and cultural visits, is located.
As one descends by Las Ramblas in the sea direction, he approaches the Cristobal Columbus monument, discoverer of America that left from the Andalusian Wood port in August 1492 with a crew of a hundred men.
The monument is a statue that was constructed for the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona in 1888 which it is sustained on a column of more than 50 meters height whose in interior there is an elevator that allows the access to the viewpoint of the monument. When Columbus returned from his first trip to America, believing to have been in Asia, he moved to Barcelona (1543), where it was received with all the honors. More than 500 years later, its image has become a symbol of this city.
|
