The Geese in Barcelona Cathedral
Having read so much about the Sagrada Família, Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece, I didn’t realise Barcelona had another cathedral. Somehow it lay hidden in the Gothic Quarter, despite having spires soaring the sky. Unlike the Sagrada Família, however, there was no five-hour wait to enter; there was no queue at all.
Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic, or Gothic Quarter, is a world unto itself, and easily missed in a city that has so much to see. This is where the Romans founded their new town. Beneath the Museu d’Història de la Ciutat, (a 14th-century mansion), lie the streets and squares of Roman Barcelona — the largest subterranean Roman ruins in the world.
Walking through the Barri Gòtic is stepping back into a medieval world. In small, winding alleyways buildings stretch out to their neighbours across the cobblestones, almost touching overhead. Ancient walls bulge out into the street, some dating back to the 4th C. Hidden somewhere was the Royal Palace where Isabel and Fernando received Columbus on his return from America.
