Today I did THE touristy things in Barcelona. La Rambla and the Gothic Quarter. Word to the wise, this is where a lot of people are pickpocketed so wear your money belt and be cautious folks.

Gothic Quarter

I started the day with a free walking tour with my hostel run by a company called Tour Me Out. The folks from Tour Me Out offer free walking tours where the tour guide only earns money through the tips that you provide at the end. I find that these are some of the best tours because if they don’t do a good job then they don’t earn much money. It is as simple as that. The tour I went on mostly covered the Gothic Quarter but we did wander over to El Born for a bit.

The Gothic Quarter is the oldest part of Barcelona, and you can still see some of the remains from the old Roman Wall. There are several churches, including the Barcelona Cathedral, and tons of little squares. These are surrounded and connected by narrow pedestrian only streets filled with balconies displaying the independent Catalan Flag (huge topic here right now). There is also a lot of graffiti on the doors of buildings, but unlike in the USA, it is viewed as art and not gang related. Typically you won’t find graffiti on the walls of the buildings because that is cleaned by the city. There is one exception to this though. See if you can find the wall of ever changing art! As you walk through the quarter, take your time. You never know what little hidden gem you will find. I also recommend visiting earlier in the morning; you will have the whole place basically to yourself. As our guide told us, 10am is basically the crack of dawn in Barcelona!

La Rambla

After the walking tour, I decided to head over to La Rambla and promptly got lost which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The street plan in this part of the city resembles a labyrinth. But this only gave me more time to walk the narrow streets and admire the ancient buildings hidden gems.

Once I got to La Rambla, I was fairly close the the sea side, so I started with the Columbus statue. In the US, we often forget that it was Spain that sent Christopher Columbus across the ocean. And not only was it Spain, it was here in Barcelona that it was all planned out. You might think that he is pointing to the Americas, but the artist didn’t even think about where the statue was pointing, sooo it is pointing to Africa. Fun little fact about Columbus, he is believed to have brought back syphilis (instead of the gold and spices the king requested). And, according to my tour guide, the King and Queen died of syphilis after Columbus’ return.. hmm…

La Rambla has evidently changed quite a bit over the years. It was once where to Romans threw their waste, aaanndd then it developed into a street full of flower vendors. Now, it is a touristy busy street that  has a center pedestrian only section. Little tents are set up all along selling flowers and cheap souvenirs, and resturants that sell over priced frozen paella. There are also street artists (not sure what they are really called), where people decorate themselves in all kinds of crazy stuff and stand like a statue until you give them a tip. Overall, I think this street is a must-do even though you may think that it’s just a big tourist trap, and there is a pretty cool market called La Boqueria that I just fell in love with.

La Boqueria (the market) is crowded but great. There are stalls after stalls selling delicous food and tasty colorful sweets. There is another section selling all sorts of seafood. There is fruit, and drinks, and meat… What to get? There are 2 things that you should absolutely try. #1 Fruit juice (or smoothie). The juice only costs 1- 2 euros and there are tons of flavors ranging from orange to mango-kiwi. #2 Jamon a.k.a ham.  Spanish are serious about their ham, and it is delicioso! You can get Jamon in paper cones to snack on as you walk through the market, or you can do as I did and buy a baguette stuffed with Jamon and cheese (around 3 euros). Pair it with some fruit juice and you have a mouthwatering and cheap lunch!

You could spend as little  as 4 hours doing both of these attractions, but I spent an entire day wandering around, snapping pictures, and going into cute little shops. Don’t skip La Rambla even though it may appear way too touristy and overpriced. It is like not seeing the Golden Gate Bridge when visiting San Francisco. You just have to see it for yourself. Plus, you will want to go to the market and try all those 1 euro fresh fruit juices!