Barcelona, Spain:#2

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So, It was on the 5th day of my trip when I returned back to Barcelona, this time with a free walking tour booked from Freewalkingtoursbarcelona.com . You book the tour completely free of charge, the concept is you decide the price at the end. The guide does not look at the amount you place in their hands so, there’s no awkward feeling of paying more than what’s affordable to you. I would highly recommend one of these tours, there a fun way to explore the city, especially if your travelling solo. It’s a way to meet people too, I met a lovely girl called Katie who was also travelling solo. Katie had been travelling solo for quite sometime, she shared some of her stories as we walked around together. It was really refreshing to meet someone like-minded, she was such an inspiring young lady.

The tour was booked for 3pm and the meeting point was at placa de Cataluyna. Placa de Cataluyna is a large square located in the city centre surrounded by and apparently the favourite meeting point.

I’m a little early so, go to a place called EL Triangle, a small shopping centre, to have a coffee and a look around the shops before it was time.

Back in placa de Cataluyna Square and the tour guides are organising our groups, their very organised and have each of our names for a guide who speaks our languages. There are a number of tours to choose from I choose to do the Gothic Neighbourhood one. Before we leave there’s a group photo with our tour guide, which was supposed to be put on the website for us to download free. Maybe our group was stingy with their payments because, ours was’nt on the website haha. It’s kind of a shame, as our guide was brilliant, he was funny, enthusiastic and was filled with so much knowledge. Although, our group was significantly smaller than we started off with as people dropped off towards the end. I paid €10 for those who are wondering, it was definitely worth it but, like I said we didn’t have to pay a thing.

The Gothic tour

First we take walk to the MUHBA Via Sepulcral Romana a Roman funeral way dated back to the 1st century A.D, it’s located in placa de la Villa de Madrid. It is actually an exhibition but, we do the street view as we are doing the free tour.

Here we learn about its history of how they were found during the reconstruction of the road. It was amazing to see how well-preserved they are after all this time. We learn a little more on Spanish history and its civil war before moving on.

We then arrive in El Call which is Barcelona’s Jewish quarter. It’s a full of character area with little market stalls all around the square. Here we learn about history and stories of the Jewish people in the Catalonia area.

We moved on through the narrow streets and were taken to a chocolate shop were we learnt about the Catalan chocolate traditions.

Then on to the art work of Pablo Picasso the Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramic artist, etching artist and writer. Picasso was a fine artist who had a significant influence on 20th century art.

We stop for a 20-minute break in a pub in this area to have a drink.

Our next stop was City Hall also known as Casa de la Ciutat and The Plau de la Generalitat. The location is in Placa Sant Jaume, the cities political centre which is located in the middle of the Gothic Quarter.

We learnt about the history of the two buildings in medieval times, and how they still govern the lives of Catalans and the people of Barcelona today.

Our last stop was the Barcelona Cathedral one of the cities most remarkable landmarks. It’s full name is The Cathedral Of The Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, dedicated to the Co-patron saint of Barcelona.

Needless to say we learn about the history of the Cathedral

I never went inside the building as there was big que, time was getting on and I still had to get back to my hotel which was an hour train ride away. Albeit, just standing outside to admire it was unbelievable in itself, the details are phenomenal!

I don’t return back to Barcelona during this trip but, my next post will be about Calella, as this was the location where I was staying.

Thanks for reading 😁