Barcelona city walks

As on the countryside walks, our patter consists of a mixture of straightforward history, geography, demographics, politics and the like, as well as folktales, myths, conjectures, lies, and the occasional burst of downright confusion. Here are some basic sample options, all 4-5 hours, and all customisable to include shoe shops, scenes of wicked deeds, or whatever takes your fancy:

1. The old town. Roman and medieval remains; convents, intact, burnt and disappeared; prostitutes, pharmacists and gangsters; dancehalls for the deaf etc; Ribera (Sant Pere, Born), Gothic quarter, Raval (Barrio Chino etc); some very fine functional modernist architecture; markets and their history; the real Roman aqueduct; bagsnatcher bars and coke dens; locations from Shadow of the wind as well as from the Dickensian Gothic story on which it’s based; whatever…
2. Catalan Manchester. Victorian textile district outside the old walls with factories in French and English styles, old village centre and junk and food markets with some nice modernist housing, patches of gypsy settlement, remains of fishermen’s village, gherkin tower and iMac tram, brilliant Victorian cemetery containing (textile) empresarios, saints and submariners.
3. Posh Barcelona. Smartly anticipating the purge that affected middle management and shopkeepers in the 36 revolution, textile barons built their homes outside the textile district. This tour take you round the Eixample grid (inc residential and commercial developments on Rambla de Catalunya, Passeig de Gracia), the upper slopes of town inc Parc Güell and Tibidabo. Urban design by 19th century worthies hoping to do good (a pig farmer, this one), to do well by doing good, and to launder their offshore earnings. Includes the Sagrada Familia, if you really want, and the Hospital de Sant Pau etc. Do-able in a morning, but more interesting if spread over a day with lunch in a squatter bar or a posh restaurant. Uses public transport–90% cheaper than tourist bus.
4. Anarchist Barcelona. The city of black and red (favourite colours of the fascists too, the anecdote here recalls other similarities) from the 1870 workers’ congress through activism and bombings, Tragic Week, unions and gangsters, libertarian education, the 1936 revolution, the 1937 Stalinist coup and the repression that followed during and after the war, 1970s revivalism and one last execution.
5. The last farmer of Horta. Trip round early 20th century village bars and farms that have miraculously survived, hidden amid Barcelona’s 60s industrial sprawl.
6. Gràcia, Spain’s second city. Get to know the open squares and narrow streets, the farms and factories, the bodegas and boutiques of Barcelona’s most independent-minded district. Featuring the Archangel Gabriel, General Bum-Bum, and the baker who cured a chronic stomach ailment by riding up the hill scattering beans as he went.

If you’re looking to combine one or two Barcelona city walks with a bit of moderate out-of-town activity, try this wine country walk and this one with excellent views of Barcelona.

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