Jew.75

It wasn’t the first time that I had been in the area. But just like every other class trip I have taken so far in Barcelona, I learn more with a teacher than when I go by myself. We made our way alongside the cathedral (which unfortunately, is under heavy construction due to some poorly chosen limestone) and made our first stop in Placa San Jaume. On one side stands the Ajuntament of Barcelona (I believe) which is the center for the Barcelona government. Across the way is the building for the Catalan government. I was a little surprised to see how low key it was outside this building. Back in the states, government buildings are heavily guarded by security and usually have hoards of people walking in, out, and around it. It just seemed weird.

            We left Jaume and headed down the narrow streets of the Jewish quarter. I never really thought about it, but I guess I kind of assumed that the streets were so narrow because the people didn’t really have a need for wide streets at the time, because obviously they didn’t have any cars or things like that to take up space. But the tour guide explained a more reasonable and more obvious reason: the streets are so narrow because in order to fit as many houses within the city walls, they had to build very close to each other. However, living in the city walls came at a price. And when some decided that they didn’t want to pay the taxes to live within the city walls, they began to expand. It was at this point that the city began to grow. The first areas were on the north side of Via Laetiania, and also up on L’exaimple.

            I assume the most common thing written in these journals is about the placa where we saw the kids playing futbol. As we entered the area, I noticed the holes in the wall, but I wasn’t really sure what they were. Then our tour guide told us that it was an area where Franco used to execute people during his reign. It was very eye-opening to think about how many people were murdered in this square at one point, and now there were children playing in it. I’m glad that they holes remained unfilled. It is a good reminder of what Franco did to this city, and the people that died opposing him.

            One thing that I noticed on the walk was the level of disdain that the tour guide had for the new development projects going on in this part of the city. We saw some buildings that have been erected in recent and relatively recent years, and they looked like a sad attempt to fit in. I could tell by his face that the tour guide is deeply bothered by these awful looking buildings. It sucks that ugly modern buildings get erected in areas of such history and architectural beauty, but is there really anything that can be done? Time goes on and things change; maybe in 1800 years the ugly, plain buildings of today will be considered historical beauty. But probably not.