La Rambla

La Rambla is a street in central Barcelona, popular with both tourists and locals alike. A 1.2 kilometer-long tree-lined pedestrian mall in the Barri Gòtic, it connects Plaça Catalunya in the center with the Christopher Columbus monument at Port Vell. La Rambla can be considered a series of shorter streets, each differently named, hence the plural forms Las Ramblas (Spanish) and les Rambles (Catalan). From the Plaça de Catalunya toward the harbor, the street is successively the Rambla de Canaletes, the Rambla dels Estudis, the Rambla de Sant Josep, the Rambla dels Caputxins, and the Rambla de Santa Monica. Construction of the Maremàgnum in the early 1990s resulted in a continuation of La Rambla on a wooden walkway into the harbor, the Rambla de Mar.

La Rambla can be crowded, especially during prime time tourist season. Most of the time, there are many more tourists than locals occupying las Ramblas -- this has changed the shopping selection, as well as the character of the street in general. For this reason also, it has become a prime target for pickpocketing.

Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the only street in the world which I wish would never end". The name rambla means, in Catalan, but also in Spanish, an intermittent water flow, and is derived from the Arabic 'ramla' which means 'sandy riverbed'.

Culture

• Gran Teatre del Liceu, or simply Liceu, is Barcelona's renowned opera house. Opened in 1847, it is among the world's finest.
• Centre d'Art Santa Mònica is a public museum of contemporary art located on the Raval side of Rambla de Santa Mònica, with regular exhibitions of international artists.
• Mercat de la Boqueria (also known as Mercat de Sant Josep or just La Boqueria) is the city's most iconic street market.
• La Rambla is home to a sizable Indian community.

Barcelona La Rambla Map

Barcelona La Rambla Pictures