La Rambla, Barcelona
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009) |
La Rambla is a street in central Barcelona, popular with both tourists and locals alike.[citation needed] A 1.2 kilometer-long tree-lined pedestrian mall between Barri Gòtic and El Raval, it connects Plaça Catalunya in the center with the Christopher Columbus monument at Port Vell.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
La Rambla can be considered a series of shorter streets, each differently named, hence the plural forms Les Rambles (Spanish: Las Ramblas). From the Plaça de Catalunya toward the harbor, the street is successively the Rambla de Canaletes, the Rambla dels Estudis, the Rambla de Sant Josep, the Rambla dels Caputxins, and the Rambla de Santa Monica. Construction of the Maremàgnum in the early 1990s resulted in a continuation of La Rambla on a wooden walkway into the harbor, the Rambla de Mar.
La Rambla can be crowded, especially during prime time tourist season. Most of the time, there are many more tourists than locals occupying the Rambla—this has changed the shopping selection, as well as the character of the street in general.[1] For this reason also, it has become a prime target for pickpocketing.[2]
Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the only street in the world which I wish would never end".
The name rambla means, in Catalan, but also in Spanish, an intermittent water flow, and is derived from the Arabic 'ramla' which means 'sandy riverbed'. The name of the city of Ramla, now in Israel, shares the same origin.
[edit] Culture
- Gran Teatre del Liceu, or simply Liceu, is Barcelona's renowned opera house. Opened in 1847, it is among the world's finest.
- Centre d'Art Santa Mònica is a public museum of contemporary art located on the Raval side of Rambla de Santa Mònica, with regular exhibitions of international artists.
- Mercat de la Boqueria (also known as Mercat de Sant Josep or just La Boqueria) is the city's most iconic street market.
- La Rambla is home to a sizable Indian community.
- Font de Canaletes is the city's most famous fountain and its most popular meeting point.
[edit] Transport
There are three Barcelona Metro stations with entrances in la Rambla, all of which are served by L3, the green line:
- Catalunya - immediately adjacent to Plaça Catalunya. One of the city's oldest and most iconic metro stations, and a common meeting place.
- Liceu - In front of the opera house Liceu.
- Drassanes - by the port, right next to Centre d'Art Santa Mònica.
[edit] References
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
