Placa de Catalunya
by Lecaro
The Placa de Catalunya, surrounded by banks, shops and hotels, marks the epicenter of the city. Measuring 46,554 m2, it was developing after demolishing the city walls, although its current perimeter dates back to 1927. Some of the city’s main cultural events take place there, and its gardens and fountain have become a meeting point for locals and visitors alike. Among the statues that adorn it feature La deessa (the Goddess), by Clara, Pastor tocant el flabiol (Shepherd playing the pipe), by Gargallo, and the monument honoring Francesc Macla (1859-1933), founder of the Estat Catala and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya nationalist parties, and President of the Generalitat between 1931 and 1933.
Areas of Barcelona (for touristy purposes). Tip #1
by Belsaita
.
First of all, a couple of hints:
- The famous "Las Ramblas", is the promenade from Plaça de Catalunya to the sea.
Not to be confused with other locations as "Rambla de Catalunya", "Rambla Prim", "Rambla del Raval" etc. "Rambla" is a kind of avenue with a pedestrian area in the middle. The word rambla is derived from the Arabic term, ramla, which means "riverbed", and these streets actually once were riverbeds that channeled the water coming down from the hills. So, you can find streets with this name all around Barcelona (and many other towns along the Mediterranean coast).
By the way, not very advisable to stay right ON Las Ramblas. Too noisy and too touristy and too fake IMHO.
- If you look at a map of Barcelona, typically the sea is at the bottom of the page (odd, I know, not the South as usual in maps). Las Ramblas go up from the sea to Plaça de Catalunya and from there you can see two big parallel avenues up until you arrive to Diagonal: Passeig de Gràcia and Rambla de Catalunya (you should walk along these 2, the most beautiful houses of Barcelona are there). La Diagonal is the easiest avenue to spot in the map, as it crosses all Barcelona (obviously, in a diagonal way).
Here you have a good online resource to locate a particular adress: www.bcn.es/guia
These references will help you to locate the other areas you may be interested on (pls see tip #2)
Cultural Difference
by mccalpin
This is a very dated tip...but I wanted to share it with you...
In the fall of 1976 or so, I traveled to Barcelona with a group of my students. One of the students was a Chilean girl who had cousins in Barcelona (pictured here).
We had dinner one evening at some restaurant. When the separate checks came, our checks were literally only $1.25US apiece (yes, this was a loooong time ago).
We happily paid the checks, then the cousins asked to see our checks. When they saw that we had been charged $1.25US apiece, they were horrified! Apparently, we had been overcharged!?!?!
The cousins called the manager over and read him the riot act, until he refunded us something like $0.25US apiece. We were astounded, because this was such a trivial amount of money!
Europe isn't that cheap anymore, but I guess the principal doesn't change...;-)
F.C. Barcelona
by acemj
Barcelona's soccer team is one of the best in Europe and is a source of much conversation with locals.
There stadium, NouCamp, is one of the largest in the world seating 110,000 officially, although it has seated 120,000 on various occasions. FIFA rules, however, limit the number of spectators for official matches to 100,000.
There is also an impressive museum at the stadium that is the most visited in the city!
Eveyone goes to the Sagrada...
by JenDux
Eveyone goes to the Sagrada Familia but you might miss the gorgeous La Seu gothic cathedral in the Barri Gotic. It's easy to walk there from the Ramblas and you can go inside to see all the altars, some lavishly decorated, dedicated to various saints. It's not easy to take photos because it's so dark inside but it's well worth going to have a look.
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avenue
A water-themed sculpture
Barcelona's metro
artists displaying their talent in front of la seu
