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Plaza de Toros Monumental
The city’s only surviving bullring, the
Plaza deToros Monumental
, stands three
blocks west of Glòries, at GranVia de les Corts Catalanes 749 (
o
Monumental). Its
brick facade, Moorish egg-shaped domes, polychromatic decoration and
sol y
sombra
(“sun and shade”) seating sections provide a taste of Andalucía in a city
where the bullfight doesn’t have much of a following – tellingly, the ring is one
part of Barcelona where not a word of Catalan is seen. The city authorities are
minded to ban bullfighting altogether, so its days may be numbered anyway.
Matador costumes, photographs, posters and the stuffed heads of vanquished bulls
occupy the small
Museo Taurino
(Mon–Sat 10.30am–2pm & 4–7pm, Sun
11am–1pm; €4;
T
932 455 804) – enter at the corner with c/de la Marina – while
an overhead walkway provides a view into the bull pens.
Esquerra de l’Eixample
The long streets west of Rambla de Catalunya as far as Barcelona Sants train
station – making up the
Esquerra de l’Eixample
– are perhaps the least
visited on any city sightseeing trip.With all the major architectural highlights
found on the Eixample’s eastern (or right-hand) side, the Esquerra (left-hand
side) was intended by its nineteenth-century planners for public buildings,
institutions and industrial concerns, many of which still stand. However, the
Esquerra does have its pockets of interest, not least the city university and an
eye-catching public park or two, while it’s here that some of the city’s best bars
and clubs are found, particularly in the gay-friendly streets of the so-called
Gaixample district, near the university.
Universitat de Barcelona and around
Built in the 1860s, the grand Neoclassical main building of the
Universitat de
Barcelona
, at Plaça de la Universitat (
o
Universitat), is now mainly used for
ceremonies and administration purposes, but no one minds if you stroll through
the doors.There’s usually an exhibition in the echoing main hall, while beyond
lie two fine arcaded courtyards and extensive gardens, providing a welcome
escape from the traffic. Students eat at the self-service café and bar in the
basement, though the traditional meeting point is the
Bar Estudiantil
, outside in
Plaça Universitat, where you can usually grab a pavement table.
In the streets behind the university – particularly around carrers Muntaner,
Casanova and Consell de Cent – Barcelona has its own gay district, known as
the
Gaixample
. Gay-friendly bars, clubs, restaurants and businesses have
mushroomed here over the last decade (the best are reviewed in Chapter 14),
though if you’re expecting the overt street scene of San Francisco’s Castro or
even London’s Soho, you’ll be disappointed.
Along Avinguda Diagonal
The most interest lies in the buildings on and off the upper reaches of
Avinguda Diagonal (
o
Diagonal). At the top of Rambla de Catalunya, Puig i
Cadafalch’s pseudo-medieval
Casa Serra
(1903) has been much altered,
though it retains its original tiles, canopies and jaunty tower. A bronze statue
of Sant Jordi, patron saint of Catalunya, guards the Diagonal side of the
THE EIXAMPLE
|
Esquerra de l’Eixample