Discover the charm of its streets, squares, hidden corners and hundred-year-old buildings with expert guides who will take you, step by step, on a journey through history.
The Gothic Quarter, (Barri Gotic) is the core of the city, where it all started more than 2000 years ago. Discover the elegant and inspiring architecture; enjoy its charming corners and squares hidden away down ancient narrow streets. From the Romans to the present day, the inhabitants have left their imprint on these stones, and the story is there for the reading. As the area is a labyrinthine, with many small streets, most of it is closed to regular traffic outside of service vehicles and taxis. This walking tour will show you many of the highlights tucked away within the Gothic maze of streets. Your professional guide will entertain you with the history as well as the characters that make up Barcelona's history.
You will start at the Plaça Catalunya, a large square often referred to as the center of the city where the old meets the newer. The Plaça is like the hub of a large wheel with many of the city's major streets leading away from it. One of the most famous is the Les Rambles, which is actually a series of pedestrian malls that link the Plaça with the Christopher Columbus statue near the harbor. Another major artery off of the Plaça is the Av. Portal de l'Angel. Along its length you can see the Murallas Romanas, a portion of the original Roman walls. Nearby is the Casa de la Pia Almoina which dates to the 15th century. The Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, a Gothic cathedral and cloister, is the seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona. It was constructed throughout the 13th to 15th centuries over the site of an earlier Visogthic chapel. Nearby is the former archdeacons residence and the separate Palau Episcopal with sections dating back to the 12th century.
The street of Sant Felip Neri, a Roman alleyway, leads to the square of the same name. Originally part of the Bishop's Jewish Hill Cemetery (de Montjuïc del Bisbe) the square has a fountain, the church bearing the name of the saint, and the Coppersmiths' Guild house and the Shoemakers' Guild house from Renaissance times. The Sant Sever, built in the Gothic Period, is a fine example of architectural design. The Temple d'August is the best-preserved Roman relic in the city, and has three columns with Corinthian capitals raised on top of podiums. Built in the first century BC, it was originally a pagan temple, located in what used to be the center of Roman Barcelona.
The Palau Reial Major and its courtyard date back to Roman times and were later expanded into a royal palace. Its chapel was built in the 14th century. The Old Jewish Quarter, the Call Jueu, is a series of very narrow streets where the majority of the Jewish community lived during the middle Ages. You will find the streets, now home to antique shops, have changed very little in the last 500 years. The Plaça del Rei (King's Square) contains a section of the façade of the Royal Palace, Chapel of Saint Agatha and the Lieutenant's Palace. The last stop will be made at the la Plaça Sant is a square dating back to Roman times where the major east/west and north/south thoroughfares crossed. Today it is home to the Palace of the Generalitat and the City Hall.
Please note: Your tour departs from and returns to the Plaça Catalunya area. The plaça is the city center and the place where the old city (Gothic Quarter and Raval) and the 19th century-built Eixample meet. Some of the city's most important streets and avenues meet in Plaça Catalunya: Passeig de Gracia, La Rambla, Portal de l'Angel and Ronda Universitat.
