Tag Archives: travel

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:

If that photo above doesn’t remind you of Venice, then nothing will. But today we’re not concentrating on Plaça d’Espanya. We covered that in detail in last Monday’s Barcelona — A Bullring to Venice to the National Palace. Instead, we’re going to just sit back and enjoy the sights offered along the southeastern portion of City Sightseeing’s Red Line route, much of which runs along the port.

As an example, let’s head along Passeig de Colom near Plaça de l’Ictineo. Look to the right for a shrimp. Not just any shrimp, mind you. This is Escultura de Gamba (Shrimp Sculpture) by Javier Mariscal:

And just beyond Escultura de Gamba is the face of Barcelona. Literally. As in La Cara de Barcelona by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein:

Now let us enjoy a few more of the statues and architectural details Barcelona has to offer with today’s photo gallery/slide show: