Barcelona Day 1 – Gothic Quarter & Roman Ruins

By Stephen, on February 13th, 2025

We arrived in Barcelona in the morning, got to our hotel, then, after a quick nap, set out to explore. Our hotel was in a fantastic location, half a block to Placa de Catalunya, often called the center of town. We walked La Rambla, a huge street from the plaza to the harbor. Because of all the construction and the huge crowds, not to mention the jet lag, I didn’t take any pictures of La Rambla. I’m not used to walking in such crowded conditions, so wasn’t thinking of pictures.

At the end of La Rambla is a monument to Christopher Columbus. He is beloved in Spain because he brought back lots of treasure from his voyage of exploration.

After a walk back up La Rambla and through a huge market full of stalls selling nearly any kind of food and ingredients, we headed for the Museum of History, which contains the ruins of the ancient Roman walled city of Barcino. Walking through the narrow alleys and around the 13th century cathedral was fantastic.

The History Museum is terrific and well worth a visit! First, we went through the “modern” history of Barcelona, where it was a textile manufacturing powerhouse and capital of Catalunya, involved in several wars and uprisings. From a viewpoint at the top of the museum, we could look out at the Gothic Quarter and beautiful nearby buildings. The plaza shown in the 4th picture turns out to be more important than it appears. The Roman ruins, roads, and city walls of ancient Barcino were discovered under that plaza. Each generation in Barcino built over top of what existed before, then as the city expanded, a church and much more were built on top. The ruins were excavated early last century, so from the museum, we went down underground and saw the ancient roads, shops, and more. The laser lines in the photos show the road boundaries, while other photos show wine-making vats and walls of 2000 year-old buildings.