artquirky

El Raval: the fat cat, the skaters, and the oldest church

Botero's bronze cat, the white museum where the city skates, and a Romanesque cloister behind it all.

Photo: Janko Hoener from Bonn, Germany / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Drafted by Claude — the editor hasn’t walked this one yet. We’ll update this notice once it’s been verified on the ground.

Distance

2.7 km

Time

~ 80 min

Difficulty

Easy

Start

Liceu (L3)

End

Universitat (L1/L2)

Best at

afternoon

Right now

29°C· Mostly clear

Open in Maps for turn-by-turn, or take it offline as GPX.

El Raval spent a long time as the city's roughest barri and has spent the last thirty years arguing with that reputation. The walk is the argument — a Botero cat, a white museum, a thousand-year-old church, all within a few blocks of each other. Two and a half kilometres, and honestly the most interesting in the old city.

Start on the Rambla del Raval, the wide modern boulevard driven through the tenements in the 1990s, and find Botero's fat bronze cat halfway along. Then south to Sant Pau del Camp, the oldest church in Barcelona, with a small Romanesque cloister that stays empty.

Back north, the plaça in front of the MACBA is the city's skate floor — Richard Meier's white walls on one side, ollies on the other. Sit on the steps. Next door, the CCCB runs the sharpest exhibitions in town.

Finish at the back edge of the Boqueria, in from the quiet side, and grab a stool at a counter before La Rambla swallows it. Universitat is five minutes up.

The route

On the map.

A soft dashed line, numbered stops. It’s a suggestion, not a turn-by-turn.

Elevation

↑ 50 m·↓ 45 m·13–33 m ASL

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

01
1
Rambla del Raval
A broad, modern *rambla* cut through the old tenements in the 1990s — palm trees, kids playing football, and Botero's enormous bronze cat halfway down. Rub its nose, photograph it, then keep walking; this is a lived-in *barri* (neighbourhood), not a set.
01
Rambla del Raval
A broad, modern *rambla* cut through the old tenements in the 1990s — palm trees, kids playing football, and Botero's enormous bronze cat halfway down. Rub its nose, photograph it, then keep walking; this is a lived-in *barri* (neighbourhood), not a set.
02
2
Sant Pau del Camp
The oldest church in Barcelona — Romanesque, ninth or tenth century, with a tiny cloister of carved capitals that almost nobody visits. A small fee for the cloister, and you will likely be alone in it.
02
Sant Pau del Camp
The oldest church in Barcelona — Romanesque, ninth or tenth century, with a tiny cloister of carved capitals that almost nobody visits. A small fee for the cloister, and you will likely be alone in it.
03
3
MACBA plaza
Richard Meier's blinding white museum faces a wide flat *plaça* (square) that became, by accident, the best skate spot in Europe. You do not need a ticket to watch — sit on the steps for half an hour; the skaters are the show.
03
MACBA plaza
Richard Meier's blinding white museum faces a wide flat *plaça* (square) that became, by accident, the best skate spot in Europe. You do not need a ticket to watch — sit on the steps for half an hour; the skaters are the show.
04
4
CCCB
The contemporary-culture centre next door, in a converted almshouse — worth stepping into the courtyard even between shows for the angled glass wall that throws the rooftops back at you. The exhibitions are reliably the most interesting in the city.
04
CCCB
The contemporary-culture centre next door, in a converted almshouse — worth stepping into the courtyard even between shows for the angled glass wall that throws the rooftops back at you. The exhibitions are reliably the most interesting in the city.
05
5
Mercat de la Boqueria (back edge)
Come in from the *Raval* side, off *Carrer de Jerusalem*, to reach the fish and the stand-up bars before the La Rambla crush finds them. Late afternoon, the traders are winding down and the prices soften.
05
Mercat de la Boqueria (back edge)
Come in from the *Raval* side, off *Carrer de Jerusalem*, to reach the fish and the stand-up bars before the La Rambla crush finds them. Late afternoon, the traders are winding down and the prices soften.

El Raval: the fat cat, the skaters, and the oldest church

On the map.

Things to notice.

Rambla del Raval

Rambla del Raval

Sant Pau del Camp

Sant Pau del Camp

MACBA plaza

MACBA plaza

CCCB

CCCB

Mercat de la Boqueria (back edge)

Mercat de la Boqueria (back edge)

Two more, on similar days.

Passeig de Gràcia and the modernisme

Montjuïc: the museums and the Olympic ring