Sunday, February 04, 2007

Barcelona Las Ramblas

OK. After Nice, I decided I should make use of the "Spain" designation on my Eurail Pass and go to Spain. So I went to Barcelona. Honestly, I was/am pretty ignorant about Spanish history and culture in general. Before I looked at the Barcelona section in my guidebook I tried to think of any famous Barcelona sights or novelties that I knew about. Nothing. Plus, the only train from Nice put me in Barcelona at 10:30 pm. Let me share something that I've discovered on this trip: Arriving in a strange city at bedtime? Not my favorite thing to do. It wasn't such a trial in Barcelona, though, because people don't start eating dinner until around 9:00, so the city was still plenty awake at 10:30.

Anyway, I thought Barcelona was a beautiful city. There's a long, wide pedestrian street called Las Ramblas that runs through the old part of town all the way down to the harbor. I like it when there is a central place in a city where I can just walk for a while and see what's what. That's my favorite way to start a visit.

Las Ramblas



There's a little section of Las Ramblas where people sell small pets. There are several dozen stands selling mostly birds (parakeets, canaries, finches, chickens, ducks), but also other, non-airborne animals (rabbits, hamsters, turtles, lizards, frogs). At any time of day you can walk by and see a scene that knows no cultural boundries: a little kid gives his parents puppy dog eyes and promises to be the epitome of responsible animal husbandry, while some unsuspecting hamster accidentally strikes a cute pose in his cage.



"Fresh" seafood stand in the market hall.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

do they sell crabs at the market......?

Anonymous said...

That's funny. Spain is the one place I'd really like to go to in Europe. Unfortunately, I don't think my "meeting up with you" is going to work out at any point this time around. arg!! though everyone else in my family seems to be going over there at some point or another in june... so unfair.
~lisa

Erick said...

La Rambla is the name which comes from the Arabic word for riverbed. It was originally just a path beside a stream that was running through the center of the old city. Today it is a famous avenue that is the bustling center of all kinds of activities. You can find almost anything here. Las Ramblas runs from Placa de Catalunya, a main square full of shops, restaurants, Barcelona hotels and banks, located at the center of the city, down to the monument of Columbus on the waterfront. The avenue is broken up into five sections, each with its own name and characteristics. The first one is La Rambla de Canaletes, which was named after the fountain Font de les Canaletes. Legends says that whoever drinks from the fountain will forever keep returning to Barcelona.