Almost 260 years old, Barceloneta is a neighborhood of seafaring and working-class origins where you can still find neighbors who tell you about what the place was like years ago. The day-to-day chores are not what usually appear in postcard photos and clueless tourists do not usually go inside. When it’s hot, many visitors are seen on its colorful promenade, which begins in the luxurious Hotel W, designed by Ricardo Bofill, and ends at the monument to the Fish, designed by Frank Gehry in 1992. This coastal neighborhood, for some, especially for the older ones, is still L’Ostia. Although it is said that the name comes from the number of oysters that its waters formerly brought with them, another version speaks of the contraband that came from the Roman port of the same name. The truth is that the neighborhood was built in the 18th century when its shores stopped being flooded. The growth and development of the port of Barcelona was essential for the creation of this neighbourhood, which during the summer takes on a special shine.
9:00 Bars of a lifetime
Pedro arrived in Barcelona in 1992, at the height of the Catalan capital’s effervescence due to the Olympic Games that transformed the city. “Before there were two underground tunnels that took you to the beach,” he says, sitting at the bar Bar Pinol (Andrea Doria, 28) (1), a typical tavern where the residents of the neighborhood usually go, ideal for having breakfast. The Smoked Cove (Bulwark, 56) (two) It is another of the typical establishments with more history in the neighborhood, it is more than 75 years old and more than three generations of the Solé family have passed through there. Is in the marketplace and it attracts attention because there are always people lining up to sit at a table. It only opens in the morning and some neighbors say that the traditional Catalan Bomba was invented here, where, yes, they have the best price (2 euros). Other neighbors, on the other hand, mention The bombette (Machinist, 3) as the creator of this ball made of pressed and fried potatoes. Another good place for breakfast is Paco’s Bar (3)in the same market.
10:00 Gaudí’s contribution
A few meters from the mouth of the Barceloneta metro is the Palace Square (4), which in ancient times was the main square of Barcelona. Everything that arrived by sea entered through here and for a long time it was the only access to the city from the port. In the 19th century, the City Council commissioned Antonio Gaudí to design some lampposts that can still be seen in front of the building the old customs of Barcelona. In the same square you can also see the Fountain of the Catalan Geniusa neoclassical-style monument whose construction was dedicated to the memory of a captain general of Catalonia, Francisco Bernaldo de Quirós y Mariño de Lobera, who in 1826 brought the waters of the Moncada mountain range to the region.
10:30 Review of the history of Catalonia
Crossing the Ronda de Litoral we find the pau vila squarewhere is the Palace of the Sea (5), a building built between 1880 and 1890 that initially served to house the old General Stores of Commerce. With a 19th century port architecture, today the building houses the Museum of the History of Catalonia and the Center for Contemporary History. The museum, opened in 1996, is an essential visit to learn about the past of this Spanish region. Its permanent exhibition, which occupies some 4,000 square metres, covers everything from the Lower Palaeolithic to post-Franco Catalonia, divided into seven parts. on the roof waiting 1881 the Terrace of the Indianas, a restaurant-bar and viewpoint where you can see La Barceloneta from a bird’s eye view and it is possible to access it with the ticket to the museum.
12:00 A dip before sunbathing
Of the nine beaches in the city, four are in Barceloneta. somorrostro (6) It is located on the border with Poble Nou. In the past, this sandbank housed barracks with up to 15,000 people that, in part, can be seen in the photograph La Chunga in Somorrostro by Oriol Maspons and Julio Ubiña from 1958 (today exhibited at the Reina Sofía in Madrid). The beach follows Barceloneta (7) in which one will meet the largest number of tourists from all over the world and where beach bars on the sand are the order of the day. Practicing languages here will not be very difficult. the of Saint Michael (8) It owes its name to the Sant Miquel de Port church, built in 1755, and is also one of the busiest in the city. Next to it and close to the W hotel is Sant Sebestia, (9)one of the oldest beaches, where you can practice nudism at sea level Barcelona Swimming Club (10). Unlike the others, it is the least crowded and is usually the favorite of Barcelonans.
14:30 lunch break
As we enter the heart of the neighborhood we will find a series of recommendations for eating. With more than 65 years, Can Ramonet (Machinist, 17) (eleven) It is a restaurant where you can taste homemade food with a touch of originality and freshness. It happens to be the oldest tavern in the port, since it has been in the same place since 1753 and today it belongs to the Ramonet Group. It has daily menus for less than 20 euros, with dishes such as loin with cod with chanfaina or veal steak with pepper and chips. The bombette (Joan of Bourbon, 19) (12), For its part, it offers stuffed squid and its famous fried potatoes.
16:00 The modernist imprint
In the Barceloneta Park (13)Located below the Ronda del Litoral and opened in 1996, you can see a wide variety of plant species. It is located where the Catalana de Gas factory had previously operated, which closed in 1989. It is an open space, where there are also basketball courts and you can see young people and teenagers practicing sports. The park is divided into three parts and one of them is The Water Towera modernist construction designed by the architect Domènec i Estapà in 1907, in which its conical brick roof can be seen trencadis.Here you can also find Factory of the sun, another space that must be seen due to its modernist architecture. It is the work of the same architect and today is the headquarters of Sustainable Barcelona Resources, in charge of environmental education.
17:00 Literary Barceloneta
Books and readers in this part of Barcelona have two refuges. The first of them is Fahrenheit 451 (Salt, 5) (14), which until recently was the legendary Black and Criminal bookstore run by Paco Camarasa. Today it is in charge of Sergio Lledó and his partner Azra Ibramovich. “We started with a traveling bookstore in Sitges and our goal was to try to value the bookseller’s trade to the detriment of consumption on-line”, says Lledó in a small room where it is possible to have a coffee. Thanks to the initiative of a client who bought the premises, today, what was a detective novel bookstore, bears the name of the title of one of Ray Bradbury’s works. “The old one was darker. We have opened it up and illuminated it a little more, but it maintains the warmth that Negra had”. The other is the bookstore Garba (machinist, 19) (fifteen), which has been in operation for almost 40 years. Originally opened and founded as a cooperative by Pilar Malla, it passed through the hands of more than one owner. Today it is run by the Barceloneta Abierta Association, which after the retirement of the last owner decided to take over the premises. “What they did was look for joint guarantees among the neighbors who put between 100 and 1,000 euros each,” says Xavi Noya, one of their employees. For the transfer, 40,000 euros were needed. “Today, thanks to the neighbors, the bookstore continues to operate.”
19:00 Coffee as a souvenir
If something has characterized neighborhoods like Barceloneta, it is the thriving spirit of its neighbors. Very few family businesses have stood the test of time. One of them is Coffees Salvador (Machinist, 15) (16), one of the few in Barcelona where you can take freshly roasted and bagged coffee home from different parts of the world. The bag is around 18 euros and you can choose between more than 14 types of coffee. Miguel Palau, Salvador’s son, has been working in the store that he started as a Colmada for 37 years. “I have lived in this neighborhood all my life and there are still older clients who continue to come and buy from us as they did before. They are less and less, of course, ”he says, showing the bags of green coffee. “If you smell it, you will feel that it still smells like the countryside.”
21:00 A walk after dinner
Paco Mayor (Emilia Llorca Martin, 12) (17) It is the third generation of the rice restaurant of the same name that is more than 101 years old. His grandfather arrived from Berlanga de Duero (Soria) when he was 13 years old and worked with the former owner of what was then a store, who sold him the premises in installments. “He slept under the wine boots,” says Alcalde. “The fishermen arrived with 20 or 30-liter bottles to be filled with wine. Sometimes they came with gigantic boots that they carried on their shoulders.” Back then ice was sold in bulk. “They asked for a peseta of ice and cut the huge block with a saw,” says Alcalde. “Many people came to have vermouth on Sunday mornings. At that time the Suau was taken, which was coffee with soda”. Salamanca (Pepe Rubianes, 34) (18) It is another emblematic seafood restaurant with more than 50 years of experience and where different celebrities have passed. For something more homemade, The New Ramonet (Carbonell, 5) (19) has a cooler, more casual vibe, as well as The fresh (machinist, 8) (twenty) where you can dine for between 10 and 20 euros per person.
A walk through the Promenade after dinner it can be a good way to say goodbye to the neighbourhood.
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