PLAÇA DE CATALUNYA AND RAMBLA DE CANALETES

Rambla de Canaletes

In this post we are going to present you one of the most important squares in the entire city: Plaça de Catalunya. Also, we are going to explain the first part of Las Ramblas known as La Rambla de Canaletes.

La Plaça de Catalunya can be considered as the union point between the old Barcelona and the modern one. That is because it is settled at the end of what is known as “the medieval Barcelona” and connects through the Passeig de Gràcia with the city built during the 19^th century. This connection can be seen while looking at the different commercial stores. In the same square you can find many bars that have been there for many years, such as Café Zurich, but also you can find a big new mall called el Triangle.

Café Zurich 1900

Café Zurich nowadays

Just down Plaça Catalunya, you will find the first part of Las Ramblas. His name, Rambla de Canaletes, came from a fountain that can be seen there –la font de Canaletes–, and as we told in one post before this is the place where FC Barcelona supporters come to celebrate their victories. 

Font de Canaletes

Coming back to Montalbán’s book, and as we have already told, this is the main starting point of their promenade; here is where Ventura wants everyone to go before starting the night. Actually, the first bar where they stop is in that part of Las Ramblas: la Cocteleria Boadas. This bar appears in all the touristic guides of the city but we highly recommend you to visit it because it is a symbol of identity of our city. This bar has been part of Barcelona for more than seventy years –it opened in 1933–, and can be considered a bastion of authenticity due to his long and interesting history. Finally another important thing to recognise here is the Teatre Poliorama, that has opened in 1906 and has been a symbol of Las Ramblas and Barcelona.

Entrance of Cocteleria Boadas at Las Ramblas with Carrer Tallers

Cocteleria Boadas

See you at the next step!

MACBA AND "PLAÇA DELS ÀNGELS"

The "Plaça dels Angels" is a meeting point for the locals. In it we can find, since 1995, the MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona) in a large square (the "Plaça dels Angels").

As in the previous post "Plaça del Pedró", we assume that this place served as a powerful articulation of Barcelona's public life contemporary to Montalbán (1939-2003). Now we can find some very nice bars with terraces, although most people buy a beer to many Pakistanis who sell beer for one euro. If you choose this option you must be careful because the sale and consumption of alcohol in the street is illegal in Barcelona and the police could fine you.

However, this activity is one of the most common in the Barcelona's youth nights. During the day you can find many skaters doing their acorbatics in the "Plaça dels Angels" and many people taking pictures or just getting some sun while reading or talking with friends. The "Plaça dels Angels" is very bright, and is still one of the best meeting places for the locals.

Near this place you have the metro station "University" (L2, purple), and from there you can start "Ravalejar", to saunter down the streets of the Raval, enjoy its many entertainment options. If you cross the street to get square "Joaquim Costa, with great bars to have a drink. If you feel like eating something we recommend the bar "Fidel", at Ferlandina street, with well-crafted sandwiches that allow you to escape from common sandwiches.

MACBA exposures are always interesting. If you want to know Barcelona these are two places that you cannot miss: MACBA and la Plaça dels Angels.

Enjoy it!

CARRER RIERA ALTA AND CARRER DEL CARME: STROLLING AROUND EL RAVAL

Carrer del Carme

Carrer de la Riera Alta

If we follow Ventura’s promenade we will pass through these two streets:  carrer Riera Alta and carrer del Carme. These are two of the most known streets in the neighborhood and in the city. Actually, what we pretend with this post is not that you pass only through these two streets; we want you to understand the concept of walking around, without any destiny —this is what Ventura and his friends do around the area—. Visiting Barcelona is, not only going to the touristic places, following a strict timetable that only allows you to visit a few things but without discovering the city.

According to that, we encourage you to stroll around the Raval before arriving to our next stop: la Plaça dels Àngels (MACBA, CCCB…). What is interesting in this area is that you can find a combination of passed and present. While you are walking around Carrer del Carme, Riera Alta or other streets around, you will see old traditional shops ruled by locals beside shops ruled by foreigners and in front you may see a modern shop (you can find many collections stores of books or vinyl discs); what is more, you can even find a public library in Carrer del Carme (Biblioteca de Sant Pau I de la Santa Creu). This strange combination should be shocking but is this contrast what makes the Raval different from other areas in Barcelona.

These differences inside the streets can be seen, not only in the different kind of shops or people that walk around, but also on the balconies. If you have the opportunities of strolling around El Raval we recommend looking at them because there you may see different flags and clothes that illustrate how multiculturalist is this neighborhood.

Balconies in El Raval

Balconies of an "occupied" house in El Raval

We hope that you have enjoyed walking around and see you soon at Plaça dels Àngels.

PLAÇA DEL PEDRÓ (People change, circumstances do not)

 Arab trade in the "Plaça del Pedró".

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán represents one of the great writers of XXth century in our country. Died hastily, too soon, in 2003, leaving a lot of things to tell us. However it was one of the greatest writers of the recovery of historical memory. In "El Pianista", Montalbán tells the story of the Spanish Civil War in three stages: before the war, during the Post-War and in the period of Democratic Transition.

One of the topics in the literature of Montalbán is recovering memory through the daily chores of the people of the time. His realism is critical and popular. In a Spain without freedom and full of terror,  Montalbán identifies perfectly the exhaust valves of the society. Often Montalbán talks about seats, roofs, rooftops, where people from all over the world came together to keep each other company, to find them, together, a few less lost. The popular song, the song is sung while sweeping or tends, is another of those exhaust valves civil society of Franco's Spain.

La Plaça del Pedró —o Padró, as it appears in the book— is one of those places where the defeated in war were to talk about their stuff. Here were people of all backgrounds: Malaga, Murcia, Andalusia, Catalonia, Aragon, La Mancha... People from all corners of Spain who had come to Barcelona to seek a better life, a job with which to support his family, or simply to escape from a secure and constant repression in their home.

Today, the "Plaça del Padró" is a multicultural place, as most of the Raval. People from Pakistan, India, Morocco, Syria, Kenya, Nigeria, Romania, intersect with the Catalans and tourists. Sell beer and 'samosa' and talk among them. They came in search of a better future, for a job to raise her family or to escape a repression in their country. People change, circumstances do not.

Old poster of a local furniture store over two new shops from migrated people.

 

One of the main mirrors of this change is the use of the business premises of the square. It has gone from furniture stores, grocery stores, etc. to bazaars, booths and grocery store Indians, Pakistanis or North Africa.

Barcelona has always been a welcoming city, a city open to the influx of people in search of new opportunities. That is our essence and as locals are proud of it, but sometimes we see situations of exclusion that we grieve.

This is our city, enjoy it!

CARRER SANT ANTONI ABAT AND ESGLÈSIA DEL CARME

In this post we are going to begin with the promenade made by Ventura and his friends. This walk starts at the street named Sant Antoni Abat, which can be considered one of the “doors” to El Raval. As we have said in the previous posts, this blog wants to show to the public the most interesting –and non-touristic places– in the city, but in this case we have to make an exception. At the very beginning of this street we can find one of the most emblematic markets of Barcelona: el Mercat de Sant Antoni.

Mercat de Sant Antoni

As we enter the street we will see a bar called “Els Tres Tombs”, very known in the neighborhood because it has been there for many years. Actually, it is important to mention it because, due to his name, this bar can only be at the street Sant Antoni Abad. “Els Tres Tombs”, apart from being a bar, it is also a popular festivity in the name of a saint: Sant Antoni Abad. Finally, we decided to include this bar on our list of “interesting things to visit in El Raval” because it has a lot of connections to the popular culture of Barcelona because this bar was frequently visited by Peret and other local artists.

Carrer Sant Antoni Abat

Els Tres Tombs

As we enter through el Carrer Sant Antoni Abat  we may have the impression of walking back to the past and abandoning the modern Barcelona to discover a city that is not offered in the touristic guides. You will leave the long and open streets to find out the narrow streets where the history of Barcelona began. If you keep walking in the street a few meters you will arrive at one of the most important places of the neighborhood that also appears in “El pianista”, actually their promenade starts there. We are talking about the Esglèsia del Carme. This building is very important for the history of the city because it was built where is use to be another church that was destroyed during the riots of 1909 (Setmana Tràgica). In the actuality here we can find the Teatre del Raval.

Teatre del Raval

Esglèsia del Carme

To conclude with this post we will reproduce a fragment of "El pianista" in which he talks about Esglèsia del Carme, the neighborhood and introduces their next step, and our next post: la Plaça del Pedró:

"Es la iglesia del Carmen. La construyeron después de la Semana Trágica, sobre el solar de un antiguo convento de jerónimas que quemaron los revolucionarios. [...] Es un barrio tranquilo y de cierto interés. ¿Queréis que bajemos hasta la plaza del Padró?"

See you at la Plaça del Pedró!

MVM, NARRATOR OF CHANGES

 

In this post we are going to show some fragments extracted from “El pianista” that describe some parts of the promenade that we propose. Our will is that you get close to his literature and his way of writing because in the posts where we are going to describe the significant places we will introduce them through the vision and description made by Montalbán.

 

An example of what we are talking about can be seen in the fragment that we will show. In this fragment we will see how he describes the beginning of Las Ramblas; it is not a physical description but a social description. What he is doing is explaining how Barcelona has evolved describing just a few meters of one of the most characteristics streets of the city:

 

“Empezaríamos por la hamburguesería que han abierto en el viejo Canaletas. Podríamos hacer allí una reflexión sobre la degeneración de la gastronomía y la penetración cultural imperial norteamericana a través de la hamburguesa. A dos pasos están los corrillos de culés y podríamos meditar amargamente sobre la pérdida de señas de identidad de un club como el Barcelona, en otro tiempo vanguardia épica de la Catalunya resistente.”

 

What we can see in that extract is how the city has changed through the description of a new burger restaurant (McDonald’s or Burger King, both of them are in the corner that he is describing). Right after that, he mentions a part of Las Ramblas where the supporters of FC Barcelona –Montalbán’s football team– usually go to celebrate their victories. Through the mention of that football team he analyses how the entire society has changed. This change will be seen in all the future posts because what we will do is show the society that Montalbán describes in front of the present society. Actually his social criticism comes from his leftist ideology –he was a member of PSUC, a left party–.

Finally during our promenade we will recommend a few restaurants around the Raval according to Montalbán’s preferences. Because, it is important to remain the he was a very important gastronomic critic.

 

We hope that you enjoy the promenade!

WALKING AROUND THE RAVAL

What we are going to do in this blog is show a particular way to discover the Raval and Las Ramblas. what you are reading now is exactly the same post as the one before, but as we want everyone to enjoy this route we thought that it would be good to write it in english too. We are going to recreate the walk that is done in the novel "El pianista" by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. This promenade appears in the first chapter and explores this neighborhood through the walk done by Ventura and his friends. We are going point out some special places that are the heart of the Raval and, somehow, the heart of Barcelona.

This promenade may take some time and our will is to take your time to enjoy it and discover our city as we have done. What may distinguish this walk from other "guided walks" is that what we are presenting is focused in a "non-touristic" point of view. According to that what everyone is going to see while walking around this neighborhood is the real Barcelona. We recommend you, our guest in Barcelona, to take time to enjoy what we think is a good way, not only to discover our city, but also the literature of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.

In the next publications we are going to explain in more detail the different things that can be seen around the promenade that we encourage to do. Some things that you will see (the ones that we will explain later) are the following ones:

1. Iglesia del Carmen (Carrer Sant Antoni Abad).
2.  Plaça del Pedró.
3. Carrer Riera Alta.
4. Carrer del Carme.
5. Plaça del Àngels, where you can find the MACBA and the CCCB.
6. Carrer Tallers and  Carrer de Jovellanos; from here you access to Carrer Pelayo.
7. Plaça Catalunya and beginning of Las Ramblas.
8. Bar Boadas (cocktail bar at Las Ramblas with Carrer Tallers). 
9.  Palau de la Virreina (Las Ramblas).
10. Mercat de la Boqueria.
11. Theatre of Liceu and Café de la Ópera.
12. Calle Ferran and Plaça Reial.
13. La Rambla dels Caputxins.
14. End of the route: Rambla de Santa Mònica and Plaça Colón.

In order to make things easier for anyone that does not know exactly what we want you to visit, we encourage you to click at the following link where you will find a "simulation" of the promenade where you will see some pictures of what you will find:

We hope that you enjoy this promenade discovering our city!