Barcelona's Gothic Quarter

Steve and I took a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter, Barcelona's historical and political center. One of the most memorable buildings that we saw on this walk was the Barcelona Cathedral. Although the richly decorated main facade was added during the late 19th century, the rest of the cathedral was built between 1298 and 1460. I was fascinated by the fact that we saw a lot of geese loitering in the cloiser and was amused to find out that in medieval times, the geese were the protectors of the cathedral. The geese were the medieval equivalent of a security system because if anybody tried to sneak into the cathedral the geese would start honking like crazy.

In addition to seeing a lot of old and interesting buildings, I noticed that there were some talented musicians playing in the plazas of the Gothic Quarter. Our tour guide told us that these musicians had to be good because they needed a license from the city to play on these crowded plazas and in order to get a license, they were required to audition for the privilege. These musicians are not paid by the city; they rely on grateful passersby to toss some money in their hat or buy their CDs.

Our tour guide was a dyed-in-the-wool Catalonian. While we were standing in the Palau del Lloctinent (Spanish viceroy), which is home to a unique archive documenting the history of the kingdom prior to unification under Fernando and Isabel, he was quick to point out that the kingdom of Catalonia was once so vast that it once covered parts of Italy and Greece. I was also amazed to learn that when Spain was ruled by Franco, the Catalonians were not allowed to speak their native language, which is Catalan. Everyone in Spain was required to speak Spanish.