Barcelona Gothic Quarter guide & attractions

Description of Gothic Centre

The Gothic Quarter, El gotico or Bari Gotico, is the medieval part of the old walled city of Barcelona and is the oldest part of the city dating to Roman and medieval times. It is characterised by a labyrinth of narrow streets with atmospheric basement bars, great restaurants and shops.

The centre piece of El Gotico is the beautiful Gothic Cathedral of Barcelona in Pla de la Seu. Surrounding the cathedral are the Frederic Mares museum and the Barcelona Dioceses Museum. Plaza de la Seu contains sections of the Roman city wall with Casa de la Ardiaca, the Archdeacons house, today is the city historic archives and is built into the old roman city wall. This was one of four main portal gates into the roman city centre. Remains of the water aqueduct can be found here also. Nearby is

Plaza de Sant Felip Neri, a medieval square with civil war bomb scars and behind the cathedral in the old jewis quarter of medieval Barcelona are four Roman columns of temple de Augusti from the Roman Forum that are over 2000 years old.

Traveling through EL gotico towards the coast, the next large public space is Plaza Sant juame which houses governmental palaces of Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya and Ajuntament de Barcelona. Near to this square is the famous Plaza del Rei who's surrounding buildings for part of the Barcelona City History Museum which has a basement museum space of the preserved Roman city ruins.

The next focal area in El gotico is Plaza del Pi and Plaza del Josep Oriel which surround the Santa Maria del Pi Basilica which offers complete tourist visits to the bell tower roof. Plaza del Pi hosts an artisan food market and Plaza del Josep Oriel is where the portrait artists congregate and where you will find multiple restaurants in medieval buildings with great outside dining in the plaza.

In plaza Ramon Berenguer III you will find more of the Roman city wall which can be followed down towards the port which has another of the main gate houses, portal del mar and the Roman baths ruins in Carrer del Regomir.

El Gotico is a good place to go shopping with Avenida Portal del Angel having the major global high street brands such as Zara, H&M, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear and many more. Within the many narrow streets of El Gotico are small boutiques for hand crafted items.

EL Gotico is bordered on the left by Las Ramblas and on the right by Via Laietana and El Born Neighbourhood. EL gotico Ends at plaza Catalunya at the top which is the edge of La Eixampla Neighbourhood and The Port of Barcelona at the bottom.

Happy Exploring!