The Barri Gotic contains a concentration of medieval Gothic buildings only a few blocks northeast of La Rambla, and is the nucleus of old Barcelona. It’s a maze of interconnecting dark streets linking with squares, and there are plenty of cafes and bars, as well as the cheapest accommodation in town. Most of the buildings date from the 14th and 15th century, when Barcelona was at the height of its commercial prosperity and before it had been absorbed into Castile. Around the Catedral, one of Spain’s greatest Gothic buildings, you can still see part of the ancient walls incorporated into later structures. The quarter is centred around the Plaça de Sant Jaume, a spacious square, the site of a busy market and one of the venues for the weekly dancing of the sardana. Two of the city’s most significant buildings are here, the Ajuntament and the Palau de la Generalitat.
June 10, 2008
May 27, 2008
Santa Maria Del Mar
The first documentary reference we find to the church of Santa Maria del Mar is in a text from the year 998. This basilica is the work of the architect Berenguer de Montagut, and the first stone was laid to commemorate the conquest of Sardinia, which completed the Catalan domination in the Mediterranean initiated ten years earlier with the conquest of Mallorca, and which reached its fullest extent with the entry of Sicily and Greece into the domains of the House of Barcelona.
Externally, it is the only perfectly-finished Catalan Gothic church. Its outer walls display the features which differentiate Catalan Gothic from European.
In the Catalan style, there is a predominance of horizontal lines, of solid panels over empty spaces, of flat terraces without roofs, and a preference for large bare surfaces. The buttresses are swithout flying buttresses as in the European Gothic cathedrals, and the towers are octagonal and flat-topped.
The interior of the church is of an extraordinary beauty and has exceptional acoustic conditions that make it an ideal space for concerts, usually of classical and Oriental music but occasionally of jazz.
May 22, 2008
La Nova Icaria Beach
La Nova Icaria Beach presents a high grade of occupation and is located close to the Olympian Port of Barcelona and separated from the adjacent beaches for small breakwaters, they connecting with the seafront of the Barceloneta.
The local police, Red Cross and a station of rescue and evacuation only give service during the summer period, as the lifeguards.
La Nova Icaria has the Blue Flag. There is also a seafront promenade with chiringuitos and restaurants.
Equipment and services: this beach has special handicapped persons facilities, renting from water crafts, red cross, walloways, restaurants, chiringuitos, beach umbrellas and hammocks, rest rooms, camping, lifeguards, parking, public phones, bus stop, cleaning service and waste bins.
You can practice here windsurfing, jet skiing and sailing.
Type: Urbanized
Size: Small (400 m)
Abarcelonage width: 40 m
Type surface: Fine golden sand
Surge: Calm