Streets, squares & neighbourhoods
Barcelona lived through a magical summer it will never forget. When the city hosted the
1992 Olympic Games, the city became the world"s capital during a fortnight which will be etched forever in people"s memories.
The Olympic Ring on Montjuïc was the nerve centre of the festivities.
Like a small diagonal that breaks with the perfect grid layout of the Eixample, the Avinguda Gaudí stretches proudly from the Sagrada Família towards the Hospital de Sant Pau. A semi-pedestrianised street that connects two magnificent landmarks, one by Gaudí and the other by Domènech i Montaner.
Barcelona"s Carrer Montcada is lined with a succession of medieval, Renaissance and baroque palazzos, their majestic doorways opening to reveal their beautiful courtyards of venerable stone. They bear witness to the rich and glorious past of
medieval Barcelona"s main street which was home to the city"s nobles.
Until the 1960s, the cabarets on the Paral·lel, with their bohemian, free-and-easy lifestyle, provided a haven of freedom in the grey Barcelona of the Franco era.
El Molino opened in 1910 as a replica of the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris"s Montmartre. The music hall staged some of the most risqué productions starring the most famous stars of the day. The legendary café-concert on the Paral·lel, which had become an icon of Barcelona"s nightlife, gradually fell into a state of disrepair and closed down in 1997. The local community joined forces to restore the old theatre and, in association with a group of artists and entrepreneurs, made it possible for this unique venue to reopen in 2010.
The centre of the Roman city, today"s
Gothic Quarter, was marked by the point where the two main streets, the Cardo and Decumanus, converged. Today the Carrer del Bisbe and Carrer Llibreteria stand on this site. Nearby, we can still see the remains of the Roman temple of Augustus. In fact, the original centre of
Roman and medieval Barcelona still forms the core of 21st-century Barcelona. Its maze of narrow streets and squares is steeped in the city"s past and present.
