The story of this place
The Barri Gòtic is the ancient core of Barcelona, its dense lanes tracing the Roman city of Barcino, whose 4th-century walls and columns still surface between medieval palaces. Here rose the great Gothic Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia, begun in 1298, whose leafy cloister keeps thirteen white geese—one for each year of the martyred girl-saint's life. Kings of Aragon ruled from the Plaça del Rei, where legend says Ferdinand and Isabella received Columbus on his triumphant return in 1493. Much of the quarter's 'medieval' look was in fact romantically restored in the early 20th century, blending genuine antiquity with theatrical nostalgia into Barcelona's storybook centre.