The Rough Guide to Barcelona 8 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

terrace restaurant and foyer bar.This is where you come to buy tickets for the

very popular fifty-minute-long

guided tours

of the original interior (daily

10am–3.30pm, plus Easter week & Aug 10am–6pm, in English on the hour;

€10;

902 475 485,

– you can also reserve tickets by

phone or online, but as visitor numbers are limited you’ll almost certainly have

to book a day or two in advance.The tours start with a short video extolling

the virtues of the building, followed by a close-up look at the decorated facade

columns and a brief visit to the two floors of the main concert hall. Or, of

course, you can always come to see a performance – the

concert season

here

runs from October until June (see p.221 for details).

Mercat Santa Caterina and around

At the very heart of Sant Pere is the

Mercat Santa Caterina

(Mon 8am–2pm,

Tues, Wed & Sat 8am–3.30pm, Thurs & Fri 8am–8.30pm;

933 195 740,

Jaume I), whose splendid restoration has

retained its original nineteenth-century balustraded market walls and added

slatted wooden doors and windows and a dramatic multicoloured wave roof.

During the renovation work, the foundations of a major medieval convent were

discovered on the site – parts of the medieval walls are visible behind glass at

the rear of the market. Santa Caterina is one of the best places in the city to

come and shop for food, and its market restaurant and bar are definitely worth

a special visit in any case.

Just to the north, the three old main streets, carrers de Sant Pere Més Baix

(lower), Mitja (middle) and Alt (upper), contain the bulk of the district’s finest

medieval buildings and the nicest shops.They converge to the east at Plaça de

Sant Pere, site of the much-restored church of

Sant Pere de les Puelles

, one

of the oldest in the city, rebuilt in 1147 on tenth-century foundations. It’s

been destroyed and burned too many times since to retain any interior

interest, and the high-walled facade – although it looks medieval – is a

twentieth-century renovation.

Mercat Santa Caterina

SANT PERE, LA RIBERA AND CIUTADELLA

Mercat Santa Caterina and around