Day 5 Barri Gotic

I think that today's wanderings were my favorite. But before I show you where we explored, I have unfinished business..........

I forgot to include this picture from Parc Guell. This is the entrance once you get past the gate houses. The stairs go up to the columns in the market place and the serpentine benches are on top. Behind the greenery in the middle is the tiled lizard, where the crowd is gathered.
This is my cute guide and personal body guard and keeper of the coins.
All over Barcelona, we have seen these red and white bicycles. Apparently, you pick one up, ride it around and return it somewhere else. They are locked in and I'm not sure how you pay for them. But they are very popular and no one wears a helmet. There are bike paths everywhere....a special lane has been added to the major roads and on the walks where we were very careful not to stray .....rollarblades are also very popular on these pathways.
Today we explored Barri Gotic (the Gothic Quarter) located in the heart of the city. It is a labrinthe of narrow passage ways and medieval buildings (700-1500 AD) and gothic architecture. It was initially the site of a Roman walled city in the 3rd and 4th century. The Portal de l'Angels remain of the original wall. These are right next
to the entrance to the Cathedral of Barcelona in the heart of the Quarter. Built between 1350 and 1448 it is undergoing restoration so more cranes and scaffolding.
This is reputedly the darkest cathedral in Europe and I had to significantly edit the pictures. I tried with flash, without flash and using various adjustments and finally got the best result with the editing tool in iPhoto. It still isn't great quality but I didn't change
the color, just the brightness. The orangey glow was when I used a flash. Located around the perimeter are a couple dozen chapels dedicated to various saints. There are stained glass windows but mostly small
and they don't add much light.

I do like cathedrals altho when I toured Europe with my mother many years ago, they all started looking alike.
Leaving the church, we ambled along rough cobblestones and narrow streets.

There were some lovely shops and little restaurants that called to me. One was all ceramics, apparently a specialty in Spain. The Lladro shop guarantees their work for a year.....against breaking in your luggage ????
The Gothic Quarter was built over a Roman forum and these Corinthian columns were part of the Temple of Augustus built in the 1st century. They are below street level and hard to photograph as they are in a small , tall room. and yes , that is the color of the walls. There were a couple groups of students listening to their instructor but unfortunately, not in English..
Here is the square where Columbus was welcomed back in 1493.
This plaque was midway up a wall and has the date of 1636 inscribed.
Carrer del Bisbe is called one of the prettiest streets in the Quarter. The connecting bridge looks Gothic but was added in 1928.! We reluctantly left this area altho there was much more to see. We really needed some rejuvenation in these old tired bodies and headed out to a Starbucks on La Rambla.

This is not my picture, I copied it from a web site. La Rambla is a long and busy pedestrian boulevard. It is always busy and crowded and lined with vendors of all sorts. I especially liked the flower stalls. During weekends and holidays, it apparently is a colorful place with street musicians, mimes and towering pyramids made up of performers......and home to the professional pick pockets.
Located off La Rambla is La Boqueria, a market just so colorful and amazing and filled with every imaginable food.
It was busy but not mobbed as it seems to be. There are stands of cheese, mushrooms, fish (of indescribable shapes and sizes...not all so appealing) , many meat stands filled with unrecognizable animal parts and some very recognizable....like the small head WITH eyes and cow faces.....I would have taken a picture because it really was a blog worthy moment but I couldn't bear to look after the first glance. This was the egg stand. These are ostrich, emu and assorted large and small eggs. Who knew that eggs didn't need to be refrigerated ? We saw them on the shelves at the supermarket also.
I loved the fruit stands best of all.....the color was brilliant and each was prettier than the next. We did stop at a bread stand for a baguette but otherwise, didn't buy the pastries, nor any fruit and especially no cow faces.................. It was a good day, just like the previous ones in this beautiful city.

PS: All of these photos were taken with either a very expensive camera or an iPhone.....and no, I can't tell the difference either.