SPAIN - Best of Europe 2014 - page 1417

The plaza offers interesting views of the cathedral's towers. The doorway here is the
(not-always-open) “back door” entrance to the cathedral (at the cloister), letting you avoid
the long lines at the cathedral's main entrance.
• Exit the square down tiny Carrer de Montjuïc del Bisbe. This leads to the cute...
PlaçaSantFelipNeri: Thissquareservesastheplaygroundofanelementaryschool
and is often bursting with youthful energy. The Church of Sant Felip Neri, which Gaudí at-
tended,isstillpockedwithbombdamagefromtheCivilWar.Asastrongholdofdemocratic,
anti-Franco forces, Barcelona saw a lot of fighting. The shrapnel that damaged this church
was meant for the nearby Catalan government building (Palau de la Generalitat, which we'll
see later on this walk).
Studythecarvedreliefsonnearbybuildings,paidforbytheguildsthatpoweredthelocal
economy. It's clear that the building on the far right must have housed the shoemakers. In
fact, just next door is the fun little Shoe Museum (described on here ) .
• Exit the square down Carrer de Sant Felip Neri. At the T-intersection, you have a choice:
You can turn left, returning to the square with the Martyrs Statue, then turn right, walk-
ing along Carrer del Bisbe to the bridge (described later).
Or if you're curious about the Jewish chapter of Barcelona's story, turn right at the T-
intersection onto Carrer de Sant Sever, then immediately left on Carrer de Sant Domènec
del Call. You've entered the...
Jewish Quarter (El Call): In Catalan, a Jewish quarter goes by the name El
Call—literally “narrow passage,” for the tight lanes where medieval Jews were forced to
live, under the watchful eye of the nearby cathedral. At its peak, some 4,000 Jews were
crammed into just a few alleys.
Walk down Carrer de Sant Domènec del Call, passing the Zoen leather workshop and
showroom, where everything is made on the spot (on the right, at #15). After passing a
charming square, also on the right, take the next lane to the right (Carrer de Marlet). On
the right-hand side is the low-profile entrance to what (most likely) was Barcelona's main
synagogue during the Middle Ages. The structure dates from the third century, but it was
destroyed duringabrutal pogromin1391.Thecity'sremaining Jewswereexpelled in1492,
andartifactsoftheirculture—includingthissynagogue—wereforgottenforcenturies.Inthe
1980s, a historian tracked down the synagogue using old tax-collector records. Another clue
that this was the main synagogue: In accordance with Jewish traditions, it stubbornly faces
east(towardJerusalem),puttingitatanangleatoddswithsurroundingstructures.Thesparse
interior includes access to two small subterranean rooms with Roman walls topped by a me-
dieval Catalan vault. Look through the glass floor to see dyeing vats used for a later shop on
this site (run by former Jews who had forcibly been converted to Christianity).