La Rambla, Barcelona

Historia

La Rambla is a street in central Barcelona, popular with tourists and locals alike. A tree-lined pedestrian mall, it stretches for connecting Plaça de Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell. La Rambla forms the boundary between the quarters of Barri Gòtic, to the east, and El Raval, to the west.La Rambla can be crowded, especially during the height of the tourist season. Its popularity with tourists has affected the character of the street, with a move to pavement cafes and souvenir kiosks. It has also suffered from the attention of pickpockets and especially towards its southern end, sex workers.The Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the only street in the world which I wish would never end."OrientationLa Rambla can be considered a series of shorter streets, each differently named, hence the plural form Les Rambles . The street is successively called: Rambla de Canaletes - the site of the Font de Canaletes fountain Rambla dels Estudis - the site of the former Jesuit University, whose only remainder is the Church of Bethlehem Rambla de Sant Josep - the site of an open-air flower market Rambla dels Caputxins - the site of a former Capuchin monastery, now dominated by the Liceu opera-house Rambla de Santa Mònica - named after the convent of St. Monica, now an arts centre. To the north of La Rambla lies Plaça de Catalunya, a large square in central Barcelona that is generally considered to be both its city centre and the place where the old city and the 19th century-built Eixample meet.