Tag Archives: Barcelona

Today and Wednesday I’m not going to waste a lot of your time with text, as no matter where you turn in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter you’re going to find some fun stuff to see and photograph. Take for instance the tiny door pictured below. I positioned Ursula next two if for size perspective. Beyond graffiti decorated doors, there’s just a lot of rich details in this area going back many, many centuries.

Fortunately, the streets were mostly empty. That allowed me to take some great shots without people adorned in bright colors traipsing through the frame. The light rain wetting the streets didn’t hurt, either:

Here we have a rather charming fountain:

Here in the Gothic Quarter you’ll find present day intruding upon the past:

Beyond that you’ll find fun architectural details around every corner:

I’ll leave you with the following photos until Wednesday’s continuation into the Gothic Quarter:

Within a very short and exceedingly easy stroll from our hotel was Barcelona’s historic and picturesque Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic). Actually, to be a bit more precise, Hotel Catalonia Portal de l’Àngel is technically in Gothic Quarter, but the older, more historic stuff is southeast of the hotel. See the unshaded area in this map for an overview:

One of the sights we stumbled across here was the former home of the General Archive of the Crown of Aragon. We were first attracted to this by the Palau del Lloctinent courtyard, which we saw as we strolled down Carrer dels Comtes:

Palau de Lloctinent (Lieutenant’s Palace) was built in 1549, and it is but one of three parts of the larger Palau Reial Major (Grand Royal Palace) complex dating back to 1302. Once inside the courtyard look to the left to find this magnificent wall, which appears to me a product of Antoni Gaudí:

Look up for this magnificent ceiling:

From here let’s now just enjoy the various streets and features of this lovely area with the following photo gallery/slide show: