Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ics celebrate music and Catalan culture. If you're interested in Modernisme, taking this tour
(which starts with a relaxing 12-minute video) is one of the best experiences in town—and
helps balance the hard-to-avoid over-focus on Gaudí as “Mr. Modernisme.”
CostandHours:
€15,50-minutetoursinEnglishrundailyeveryhour10:00-15:00,tour
times may change based on performance schedule, about 6 blocks northeast of cathedral,
Carrer Palau de la Música 4-6, Metro: Urquinaona, tel. 902-442-882,
www.palaumusica.cat
.
Advance Reservations Required:
You must buy your ticket in advance to get a spot
on an English guided tour (tickets available up to 4 months in advance—ideally buy
yours at least 2 days before, though they're sometimes available the same day or day be-
fore—especially Oct-March). You can buy the ticket in person at the concert hall box office
(less than a 10-minute walk from the cathedral or Picasso Museum, open daily 9:30-15:30);
by phone with your credit card (no extra charge, tel. 902-475-485); or online at the concert
hall website (€1 fee,
www.palaumusica.cat
)
.
Concerts:
Consider getting a ticket for a concert (300 per year, €22-49 tickets, see web-
site for details, box office tel. 902-442-882).
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Santa Caterina Market
This eye-catching market hall was built on the ruins of an old monastery, then renovated in
2006 with a wildly colorful, swooping, Gaudí-inspired roof and shell built around its origin-
al white walls (a good exhibition at the far corner provides a view of the foundations and
Englishexplanations). Themuch-delayedconstructiontooksolongthatlocalsbegancalling
the site the “Hole of Shame.” Come for the outlandish architecture, but stay for a chance to
shop for a picnic without the tourist logjam of La Boqueria market on the Ramblas.
Cost and Hours:
Free, Mon 7:30-14:00, Tue-Wed and Sat 7:30-15:30, Thu-Fri
7:30-20:30, closed Sun, Avinguda de Francesc Cambó 16,
www.mercatsantacaterina.net
.
▲
Church of Santa Maria del Mar
This so-called “Cathedral of the Sea” was built entirely with local funds and labor, in the
heart of the wealthy merchant El Born quarter. Proudly independent, the church features a
purely Catalan Gothic interior that was forcibly uncluttered of its Baroque decor by Civil
War belligerents.
Cost and Hours:
Free, daily 9:00-13:30 & 16:30-20:00, Plaça Santa Maria, Metro:
Jaume I, tel. 933-102-390.
Visiting the Church:
Before entering, look at the figures on the front door. These rep-
resentthe
bastaixos
whohauledthestoneusedtobuildthechurchallthewayfromMontjuïc
quarries.
Step inside, to the largely unadorned Gothic space. It used to be more highly decorated
with Baroque frills. But during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the Catholic Church
