We woke up around 9:30 am but decided to relax today so stayed in our room. We left for our touristy day at 1 pm.
On our way to the 2 pm guided walking tour (by the same company whose walking tours we did in Berlin and Potsdam - called Sandeman), we stopped at the French chain Paul to have a baguette sandwich with cappuccino. Then we took the subway and joined our guided walking tour group at 1:50 pm.
The first stop was a square where there is an old royal castle where the Spanish King was staying when Christopher Columbus brought back slaves from America in 1492 after he had accidentally discovered America when he had originally set sail for India. At the time, Spain was ruled by King Ferdinand whose wife was Queen Isabel. A brief history tour of Barcelona is in order to give some context to this royal couple.
Barcelona today is a metro area comprising 5 million people and is the second largest city of Spain, after Madrid. However, historically, Barcelona has always maintained its separate Catalan identity because it is part of the region of Catalonia (still an autonomous region of Spain) that speaks the distinct Catalan language and has its own culture and traditions. This is quite similar to the French-speaking province Quebec of Canada. Like Quebec, Catalonia wants to secede from Spain and form a separate country and this separatist sentiment has a very long tradition dating back centuries. Spain has various nationalities living in one country (much like Pakistan) that have their own languages and culture. Of the 19 regions of Spain, Catalonia and Basque Country are two that want to secede from Spain.
Barcelona was founded in the 3rd century BC by the Barca family and they named the city Barcino. Then it became a part of the Roman Empire around 15 BC and the oldest neighborhood of Barcelona, called the Gothic Quarter (or Barri Gotic) still has remnants of the old Roman gates to the city of Barcino. The grid-like street structure of this quarter is also very Roman in its design. When the Roman Empire was in decline in the 5th century AD, the inhabitants of Barcino invited the Visigoths from North to come and live with them so that these militarily superior giants could protect the city against other barbarians who were pillaging the Roman Empire during its decline. Then the Arab Moors of North Africa conquered this city in the 8th century and Barcelona remained a part of their Al Andulus empire for 90 years before being conquered by the French. [Side note - the Al Andulus empire did not end however and stayed in power in the Southern part of Spain (in Cordoba, Granada, Seville) for 8 centuries.] The French installed a Count of Barcelona to rule the city as their representative. The Counts of Barcelona started becoming independent and expanded their territory over time to include all of Catalonia. In 1137, the Count of Barcelona and the Count of the neighboring Aragon were combined by marriage that became the Crown of Aragon when their son got the throne in 1162. Barcelona is a coastal city adjoining the Mediterranean Sea and it became a financial and trading hub of sea trade. However, Barcelona's importance diminished when Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile married to combine their territories and the political power shifted to present-day Madrid and to this day, the city of Madrid is the capital of Spain. Columbus was sent by Isabel and Ferdinand in to find India but when he discovered America in 1492, Spain's trade focused more on the Atlantic coast than on the Mediterranean coast, thereby reducing Barcelona's financial value relative to Madrid. From 1640 to 1652, Catalonia revolted against Spain trying to gain independence and Barcelona was at the forefront. However, plague hit Barcelona towards the end of this revolt that halved Barcelona's population and also finished off the resistance movement. In the Napoleonic Wars of the 19th century, the city suffered major damage but after the war, a period of industrialization started. In 1936, a general of the Spanish army General Francisco Franco led a coup that started the Spanish Civil War. He was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy that wanted a united Spain. The war went on for 3 years and in 1939, General Franco emerged victorious and ruled Spain for the next 36 years till his death in 1975. Catalonia sided with General Franco's opposition (Soviet Union and Mexico who wanted the regions to have to right to self-determination) hoping that if the opposition was successful, they might gain independence. When Franco won, as retaliation, he banned the Catalan language and generally suppressed Catalonia and its people. Three years after his death, democracy returned to Spain in 1978 that saw general progress for Barcelona. Hosting the 1992 Olympics accelerated Barcelona's revival and now it has emerged as Europe's 4th most popular tourist destination (after London, Paris and Rome). Okay, back to the walking tour.
Our second stop was the Barcelona Cathedral which had its building constructed from the 13th to 15th century but the outer facade was done quite recently in the 19th century. It is dedicated to the lady patron saint of Barcelona, Saint Eulalia who was martyred by the Romans when Barcelona was a part of the Roman Empire. This church is the seat of the Bishop of Barcelona. The next stop was a square that has the remnants of the gates to the city of Barcino and an aqua duct from the Roman times. This square also had a public work by Picasso in which he has portrayed Barcelona's festivities. After that, we saw another peaceful square that has a church, a school, a shoe museum and a cafe. A couple of Hollywood movies have used this square in their scenes and it was also the site of a bomb that was dropped by Mussolini's Italian troops that were helping Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Bomb damage is still visible on the outer wall of the church. Then we walked to a big square where the city council of Barcelona and the government of Catalonia have their buildings. Our British guide Ruby told us that there are a lot of protests in this square since Barcelonans love to protest.
Then came time for a short break in our walking tour. As it was a very hot and sunny day, we rehydrated ourselves and rested in the shade during the break. Everything that we saw before the break was in the Gothic Quarter but now we moved on to another section of the city, El Born district. Our guide pointed out a few good Tapas restaurants in the area and then we saw the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar. The unique thing about this cathedral is that when some restoration work was being done here after Franco's death, the renovators put the FC Barcelona emblem on a stained glass inside the cathedral. The significance is that when General Franco had banned the Catalan language and the Catalonia flag, people could only speak the language at FC Barcelona's football matches (since it wasn't possible to arrest that many people) and used FC Barcelona's club flag as a symbol of their identity. Even the club's motto "more than a club" hints at this. Therefore, the football club's emblem finds a place inside this cathedral to recognize the role played by the club in Catalonian history. Then we walked a long way to our last stop that was a huge park close to the La Barceloneta beach. There used to be a military base at the site of this park that was meant to keep a check on Barcelona and was installed by General Franco. After the tour was over, we walked towards the statue of Columbus that was built at the coastal location from where Columbus left to find India and came back when he had discovered America. Perhaps to hint at that irony, the statue of Columbus points incorrectly away from America!
By this time, we had been walking for almost 5 hours so we turned towards the touristy avenue of La Rambla and stopped at a Burger King for a quick snack. Then we continued walking on the two km stretch of La Rambla towards our hotel. On the way, we stopped at Plaća Reial for some pictures. We also got waffles from a stall on La Rambla to savor during our walk. When we reached Plaća de Catalunya, we took the subway and then came back to our hotel.
We unwound in our hotel's sauna and then rested for an hour before going out for a very late dinner. The great thing about the location of our hotel and the neighborhood is that it has excellent Tapas places that are open late and it is safe to walk around. We walked three block down from our hotel to a Tapas bar where we had patata bravas (fries potatoes with garlic and mayo), green peppers and cod fritters. We finished off with Creme Catalonia, a local take on the French dessert creme brûlée.
Off to bed now to recharge our batteries for our last day in this beautiful city. We have loved everything so far about the city and will definitely like to visit again. But before that, we have a few things on our list for tomorrow. Till then, take care and good night!
On our way to the 2 pm guided walking tour (by the same company whose walking tours we did in Berlin and Potsdam - called Sandeman), we stopped at the French chain Paul to have a baguette sandwich with cappuccino. Then we took the subway and joined our guided walking tour group at 1:50 pm.
The first stop was a square where there is an old royal castle where the Spanish King was staying when Christopher Columbus brought back slaves from America in 1492 after he had accidentally discovered America when he had originally set sail for India. At the time, Spain was ruled by King Ferdinand whose wife was Queen Isabel. A brief history tour of Barcelona is in order to give some context to this royal couple.
Barcelona today is a metro area comprising 5 million people and is the second largest city of Spain, after Madrid. However, historically, Barcelona has always maintained its separate Catalan identity because it is part of the region of Catalonia (still an autonomous region of Spain) that speaks the distinct Catalan language and has its own culture and traditions. This is quite similar to the French-speaking province Quebec of Canada. Like Quebec, Catalonia wants to secede from Spain and form a separate country and this separatist sentiment has a very long tradition dating back centuries. Spain has various nationalities living in one country (much like Pakistan) that have their own languages and culture. Of the 19 regions of Spain, Catalonia and Basque Country are two that want to secede from Spain.
Barcelona was founded in the 3rd century BC by the Barca family and they named the city Barcino. Then it became a part of the Roman Empire around 15 BC and the oldest neighborhood of Barcelona, called the Gothic Quarter (or Barri Gotic) still has remnants of the old Roman gates to the city of Barcino. The grid-like street structure of this quarter is also very Roman in its design. When the Roman Empire was in decline in the 5th century AD, the inhabitants of Barcino invited the Visigoths from North to come and live with them so that these militarily superior giants could protect the city against other barbarians who were pillaging the Roman Empire during its decline. Then the Arab Moors of North Africa conquered this city in the 8th century and Barcelona remained a part of their Al Andulus empire for 90 years before being conquered by the French. [Side note - the Al Andulus empire did not end however and stayed in power in the Southern part of Spain (in Cordoba, Granada, Seville) for 8 centuries.] The French installed a Count of Barcelona to rule the city as their representative. The Counts of Barcelona started becoming independent and expanded their territory over time to include all of Catalonia. In 1137, the Count of Barcelona and the Count of the neighboring Aragon were combined by marriage that became the Crown of Aragon when their son got the throne in 1162. Barcelona is a coastal city adjoining the Mediterranean Sea and it became a financial and trading hub of sea trade. However, Barcelona's importance diminished when Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile married to combine their territories and the political power shifted to present-day Madrid and to this day, the city of Madrid is the capital of Spain. Columbus was sent by Isabel and Ferdinand in to find India but when he discovered America in 1492, Spain's trade focused more on the Atlantic coast than on the Mediterranean coast, thereby reducing Barcelona's financial value relative to Madrid. From 1640 to 1652, Catalonia revolted against Spain trying to gain independence and Barcelona was at the forefront. However, plague hit Barcelona towards the end of this revolt that halved Barcelona's population and also finished off the resistance movement. In the Napoleonic Wars of the 19th century, the city suffered major damage but after the war, a period of industrialization started. In 1936, a general of the Spanish army General Francisco Franco led a coup that started the Spanish Civil War. He was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy that wanted a united Spain. The war went on for 3 years and in 1939, General Franco emerged victorious and ruled Spain for the next 36 years till his death in 1975. Catalonia sided with General Franco's opposition (Soviet Union and Mexico who wanted the regions to have to right to self-determination) hoping that if the opposition was successful, they might gain independence. When Franco won, as retaliation, he banned the Catalan language and generally suppressed Catalonia and its people. Three years after his death, democracy returned to Spain in 1978 that saw general progress for Barcelona. Hosting the 1992 Olympics accelerated Barcelona's revival and now it has emerged as Europe's 4th most popular tourist destination (after London, Paris and Rome). Okay, back to the walking tour.
Our second stop was the Barcelona Cathedral which had its building constructed from the 13th to 15th century but the outer facade was done quite recently in the 19th century. It is dedicated to the lady patron saint of Barcelona, Saint Eulalia who was martyred by the Romans when Barcelona was a part of the Roman Empire. This church is the seat of the Bishop of Barcelona. The next stop was a square that has the remnants of the gates to the city of Barcino and an aqua duct from the Roman times. This square also had a public work by Picasso in which he has portrayed Barcelona's festivities. After that, we saw another peaceful square that has a church, a school, a shoe museum and a cafe. A couple of Hollywood movies have used this square in their scenes and it was also the site of a bomb that was dropped by Mussolini's Italian troops that were helping Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Bomb damage is still visible on the outer wall of the church. Then we walked to a big square where the city council of Barcelona and the government of Catalonia have their buildings. Our British guide Ruby told us that there are a lot of protests in this square since Barcelonans love to protest.
Then came time for a short break in our walking tour. As it was a very hot and sunny day, we rehydrated ourselves and rested in the shade during the break. Everything that we saw before the break was in the Gothic Quarter but now we moved on to another section of the city, El Born district. Our guide pointed out a few good Tapas restaurants in the area and then we saw the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar. The unique thing about this cathedral is that when some restoration work was being done here after Franco's death, the renovators put the FC Barcelona emblem on a stained glass inside the cathedral. The significance is that when General Franco had banned the Catalan language and the Catalonia flag, people could only speak the language at FC Barcelona's football matches (since it wasn't possible to arrest that many people) and used FC Barcelona's club flag as a symbol of their identity. Even the club's motto "more than a club" hints at this. Therefore, the football club's emblem finds a place inside this cathedral to recognize the role played by the club in Catalonian history. Then we walked a long way to our last stop that was a huge park close to the La Barceloneta beach. There used to be a military base at the site of this park that was meant to keep a check on Barcelona and was installed by General Franco. After the tour was over, we walked towards the statue of Columbus that was built at the coastal location from where Columbus left to find India and came back when he had discovered America. Perhaps to hint at that irony, the statue of Columbus points incorrectly away from America!
By this time, we had been walking for almost 5 hours so we turned towards the touristy avenue of La Rambla and stopped at a Burger King for a quick snack. Then we continued walking on the two km stretch of La Rambla towards our hotel. On the way, we stopped at Plaća Reial for some pictures. We also got waffles from a stall on La Rambla to savor during our walk. When we reached Plaća de Catalunya, we took the subway and then came back to our hotel.
We unwound in our hotel's sauna and then rested for an hour before going out for a very late dinner. The great thing about the location of our hotel and the neighborhood is that it has excellent Tapas places that are open late and it is safe to walk around. We walked three block down from our hotel to a Tapas bar where we had patata bravas (fries potatoes with garlic and mayo), green peppers and cod fritters. We finished off with Creme Catalonia, a local take on the French dessert creme brûlée.
Off to bed now to recharge our batteries for our last day in this beautiful city. We have loved everything so far about the city and will definitely like to visit again. But before that, we have a few things on our list for tomorrow. Till then, take care and good night!
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