EL BORN AND THE GOTHIC QUARTER OF BARCELONA

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Day 2: BARCELONA (HOTEL LE MÉRIDIEN): El Born and The Gothic Quarter of Barcelona - BARCELONA (HOTEL W BARCELONA)

Start on Saturday in Barcelona in the best way possible and we have enjoyed an incredible sunrise over Barcelona from our room at Le Méridien Barcelona, a luxury that makes us want to start today where we will focus on El Born and the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, two of the best known areas of the city.

Dawn in Barcelona in the Mediterranean Suite

The first thing we do is go down to Le Méridien Barcelona breakfast room, located in the CentOnze and load energies with a first class breakfast, with top quality products and a couple of coffees that revive anyone.

Breakfast in CentOnze

After 10 in the morning, we check out, we say goodbye to the staff of Le Méridien Barcelona, who have made us feel at home and we will enjoy Barcelona, one of the cities that have us in love, especially areas such as El Born and the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, areas that we will travel today.
But before, with a day as sunny as today, we don't want to miss seeing La Pedrera and Casa Batlló in the light of day, repeating yesterday's visit in the late evening.
It's Saturday and it's a little after 10 in the morning, but Paseo de Gracia is already very lively, so it's not hard for us to get to these two locations, icons of Barcelona.
A good option if it is your first visit to the city is to book this one-day tour so you don't miss anything about the city.

Casa Batlló

In addition, we take the opportunity to look at many of the impressive buildings in Paseo de Gracia, such as La Casa Rocamora, often ignored by paying attention only to the two best known.

The Rocamora House in Paseo de Gracia

La Pedrera in Barcelona

After this "repetition" of visit, we go back down Paseo de Gracia, passing through Plaza Cataluña, to get back to Ramblas, continue to Via Laietana and start to enter Born District, located between Vía Laietana and Barceloneta.

Born District

The tour of the Born District begins at the Plaza Sant Pere, with its incredible Church of Sant Pere.
From here we continue until we reach the Palau de la Música, one of the incredible examples of Catalan Modernism, located in Carrer del Palau de la Música, 4.

Palau de la Música in the Born District

The Palau de la Música was built by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and is well known for the main facade, decorated with incredible mosaics.
From here, we get lost in some of its best-known streets in the neighborhood, such as Passeig del Born, one of the liveliest areas of both the neighborhood and the city, especially at night, although during the day it is full of bars and shops The most interesting, so it is also an area of the most recommended.

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Highlight as a curiosity that here, in medieval times, was the place where the witches were executed and burned.
It's almost two in the afternoon, so we go in search of a place to eat and the chosen one is Born Tapeo, a place of the best known in Barcelona, where we tasted 6 tapas plus drinks and coffee for 38.40 euros.
Upon arrival it is full of people, but immediately they make room for us at one of the tables so that we can sit down and taste some of their tasty tapas.

Born Tapeo

It's after 3 o'clock when we leave the premises willing to continue touring the Born district of Barcelona.
We go straight to another of the best known points of the neighborhood, the Church of Santa María del Mar, a church of Catalan Gothic style, from the 16th century.

Santa María del Mar Church in the Born of Barcelona

This church was built in 998 above the Chapel of Santa María de las Arenas thanks to the donations of people who were dedicated to the sea at that time.
Visiting hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Sundays and holidays the schedule is from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The location is in Plaça de Santa María number 1
From here we arrive at Montcada Street, where we find the Picasso museum, one of the most visited in the city and the Textile Museum, with a quieter bar located on its terrace.
The Textile Museum can be found in this area of Barcelona since the textile guilds of the city were in the Born at the beginning.

Without a doubt, the Born District is an ideal place to spend a morning or an afternoon, enjoying not only the historical places or museums, but also to enjoy the local life that focuses on the busiest streets and in the cafes and terraces of the area.

Born streets

From here and in the afternoon, we go to the Gothic Quarter, another of the areas that we like most in Barcelona and that have great interest.
The first place we arrived at is the Plaza Sant Jaume, a political and public center in Roman times, and where we currently find the headquarters of the City Council of Barcelona and the government of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

Sant Jaume Square in Barcelona

From here we continue our tour of the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona and we get to Sant Felip Neri Square, one of the most beautiful corners of the city.

Sant Felip Neri Square in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona

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This is a small square, with a fountain in the center and a perfect terrace to stop along the way to cool off in front of the San Felipe Neri Church.
It is this same square we can find the house that was the guild of shoemakers, nowadays the Museu del Calçat.
Leaving the opposite street of the square, we arrive at the well-known street of Bisbe, another of the icons of the city.

Bisbe Street in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona

After touring it, we take direction to the Plaça Nova, place where we found the Cathedral of Barcelona, an essential visit in the city that we do not do because we already know it from previous occasions.

Barcelona's cathedral

In Plaça Nova we also find the Diocesan Museum, formerly La Pia Almoina, which offered food and help to the poor and the Episcopal Palace, with a neoclassical facade.

Streets of the Gothic Quarter

Being already in this area of the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona and seeing that the hours pass faster than we would like, we take Portal de l'Ángel, one of the commercial arteries of Barcelona, to get to Plaza Cataluña and from there go back down Ramblas, this time with a fixed destination: the Boqueria Market.

Portal of the Angel

The Boqueria of Barcelona

The San José Market, known as La Boquería, is the most famous market in Barcelona, located on Las Ramblas.
Apart from acting as a market itself, for a few years it has become a tourist attraction and is visited by anyone who comes to the city.

Bodega Market Stalls in Barcelona

After having a couple of mango and coconut juices for 1 euro each, it is time to pick up the car and get on the way to the W Barcelona, which will be our accommodation in Barcelona this second night of the trip to Barcelona in a weekend of week.
We arrive at the hotel after 6 pm, and after leaving the car in the parking lot, we check in, finding ourselves with a key in the hand that indicates the numbers 1602, which means that we will be on the 16th floor, with nail spectacular views of Barcelona.
And we can check it in a few minutes, when we open the door of what will be our room until tomorrow.

Our room at W Barcelona

The idea was to leave the suitcase and go straight for a walk around the area, but as you can understand, with such views, it has been impossible to tear ourselves out of there until we have not seen how the sun began to fall on the city from our room W Barcelona.

Sunset over Barcelona

It's after 7 in the afternoon when we leave the room, not without some regret for not enjoying the luxury views we have from the room and go for a walk around the hotel surroundings, at this time of more animated.

W Barcelona at nightfall

We have dinner booked at Wave, one of the restaurants of the W Barcelona hotel, at 9:30 at night, but as we still have about 45 minutes left, we took the opportunity to have a couple of cocktails in Eclipse, the bar located on the 26th floor of the hotel and from where you have stunning views of the city.

Barcelona views

Punctual as a clock, at 9.30 at night we are sitting on the Wave where after an incredible attention by the staff, we finally decided on a Beef Steak Tartare with soy sponge and mustard ice cream and Lobster Rolls with Avocado, which are rice crepes stuffed with lobster, prawns and avocado with spicy yogurt sauce and louie sauce (a dish that has been on the restaurant menu for 5 years), as starters to share and as seconds a Risotto of sauteed scallops with Pumpkin and truffle and some squid grilled with herbal oil and onion marmalade, accompanied by gratin potatoes.

Wave dinner

For dessert, and despite being already full, we have not been able to resist asking for a Tahiti Vanilla Mousse, accompanied by a sea of strawberries, red fruits and touches of red wine and a fluffy tangerine with caramelized species bread and a light coconut soup
All delicious and without a doubt the best way to end our day in Barcelona, enjoying the Born and the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona.
A good way to learn more about the history of this neighborhood is to book this Gothic tour and the Palau Güell with a guide in Spanish.
After a pleasant dinner, with two coffees, after 11 pm, we end the day today, with views of Barcelona that we will never forget.