A Ramble Along La Rambla (Las Rambla)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Las Rambla
Date:	21/01/02 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: #In op

Disadvantages: In op

Spain can seem like a different world at times, and La Rambla is just one example of this. Stretching through the city and ending up at he sea front and marina, this historic avenue was just 10 minutes walk from our hotel, so we ended up there quite a lot. It’s a road, but it’s a road like none other.

Starting on the sea front (since that’s where we generally started from, and it’s my walk you’re tagging along on here, ok?) we have the Monument a Colom. Now if I tell you that “Colom” is short for “Columbus”, you should be able to figure out what this is. The tower and lifts are open 6 days a week in winter with a short lunch break, and the top offers fantastic views over the city and beyond.

Heading up La Rambla we come almost immediately to the Museu de Cera, or wax museum. You buy tickets from a little kiosk on the main street, and then head off down a little alley for the museum itself. We didn’t go in, but I’ve been told it’s not that bad, with 300+ exhibits on display.

Next up we have the, ahem, erotic museum which was pretty funny (meaning yes, we did go in). After arguing about the fact that I wanted a student entry without a ISIC card (an argument which, don’t worry, I did win), we were sent upstairs where we were presented with everything from “pleasure chairs” to lesbian love shots. There were statues and porn hotlines to listen to (in your choice of 4 languages!) and videos – *that* one of Pammy and Tommy Lee and a quite worrying one of two people (who looked like they should be on the Spanish equivalent of Inch Loss Island) going at it like rabbits. Nice!

Stroll for a couple of minutes and you’ll be smack bang wallop in front of the Gran Teatre del Liceu. The what? Honestly, do I have to do everything for you guys? Add a “d” to the first word and an “h” to the middle of the second an
d you should be just about there. Destroyed twice by fire, the theatre has been rebuilt on a number of occasions and now stands proudly overlooking the street, offering daytime and evening shows to tourists and locals alike.

Straight ahead we have two palaces almost directly opposite each other – the Palau de la Virreina and the Palau Moja and typically Spanish: glitzy, gaudy and over the top, and to think, “normal” people used to live in them. They aren’t currently open to the public for tours or anything, but are nice to look at from the outside.

While there are a fair number of famous buildings on the street, that’s not La Rambla over with by any means. Complementing these we also have :

Shops : many are touristy places which all seem to sell the same things, but there’s also bookshops, music shops, places for fashion and ornaments and a few jewelers. With these we have lots of stands on the main pedestrianized bit, selling newspapers, chocolate, lottery tickets and an incredible amount of porn dvds and books. Plus there are people out selling hand made wares and cage after cage of birds and small animals up for sale.

Eateries : this road is full of them! There are international chains (McD’s, KFC, Burger King), Spanish fast food places (mainly pizza and sandwiches), lots of cafes serving ice cream, crepes and waffles and lots of restaurants ranging from cheap and tacky touristy set menu places to the more extravagant, luxurious affairs.

Entertainers : Mime artists, tarot readers, living statues, musicians and clowns adorn the street, especially at night. If this is what it was like in the middle of January, I can only imagine that come summer they’ll be tones more.

Market : the Mercat de la Boqueria is one of the most spectacular food markets in Europe. Here there’s an abundance of fresh fish (well freshly killed I guess), fruit and vegetables, cakes, choc
olate, wine and more. It’s not the cleanest market I’ve ever seen, but I guess that just adds to the atmosphere. Be warned, the sales assistants can be pretty persuasive, and using monolingualness as your excuse won’t work since they all seemed proficient in tons of languages.


La Rambla is, truth be told, pretty funky. There’s a lot going on even in winter, and you can walk up and down again and again without getting bored, because there’s always something new to see. Many hotels are situated on or just off La Rambla, but these are naturally pricey. Even our cheap tacky place though was within walking distance. If you’re even further afield, the road is served by 3 metro stations : Drassanes & Liceu (both line 3) and Catalyunya (lines 3 and 5).

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