Plaça de Catalunya

Plaça de Catalunya is the beautiful square situated in the center of Barcelona. This plaza connects four districts of Barcelona City- Barri Gotic, Raval, Ciutat Vella and Eixample. The most important thing is that this plaza is meeting place for many people! There is a lot of surface to entertain:)Lot of benches to sit and talk and drink spanish sangria!

Plaça de Catalunya is impressing mostly of it`s 2 huge fountains that are the most characteristic elements of this place. Even the floor of this square has some beauty/estetic aspects. It is made of colourful sett, that creates a pattern of round with a star in the middle of it.

Buildings that are located around this place are very prestiguous. Nowadays there is a lot of hotels, elegant shops and main headquarters of important financial institutions.

Why is this square important? Because it is not only situated in the center of the city, but is also some kind of orientation point-when you are lost you can tell your friends you gonna meet together in Plaça de Catalunya and there`s no way to be found each other easier than that. What is more-"Catalonian Square" neighbour with La Rambla - the most important and most popular touristic street of Barcelona. So visiting the city, passing through its most visited avenue there is no way to not pass by Plaça de Catalunya and use its charm to:

fall in love in Barcelona! As we did!

Plaza Catalunya is known as one of the busiest squares in Barcelona. And, from what I have read in various forums, also as the most beautiful square in Spain. Sadly, it is not as beautiful as I have expected before seeing it with my own eyes, but it still deserves do be described in an entry. If you are in Barcelona as an Erasmus student, this square will most likely often be a meeting point for different walking tours and a starting point for all – night – long partying down the nearby street, known as Las Ramblas.

Where is Plaza Catalunya situated and how to get there?

The easiest way to get to Plaça Catalunya is, of course, to simply use the metro. Honestly, I have not used a bus in Barcelona yet, and I do not even want to, because I am sure I would get lost, so I would not know how to get to Plaza Catalunya by bus. You can get there with metro by using the green line L3 or the red line L1. Please note that there is always a lot of people in this station, waiting for the metro, so if you are hoping that you will find a sit on the train, do not be fooled. On weekends, I sometimes barely squeeze on the train, and once, I was not able to get to the door on time to exit on my station, so I could only exit at the next one.

Once you are on the metro there, take care of your belongings, because in such a crowd, someone could easily steal some items from you.

Once you exit the metro, let me warn you that this station is huge and it has several possible exits. So if you do not know exactly which one to use, you might as well end up on the other side of La Rambla (it happened to me yesterday, and I was therefore late for a meeting). But if you are lucky and you score the right exit for the first time, you will come out right next to Plaça Catalunya and be able to immediately start discovering the place.

About the square

First thing that I noticed when walking towards the square, is an enormous amount of pigeons. And as if that was not enough yet, old people bring bags of rice and old bread to feed them. It was so disgusting. I was sitting on a bench and a woman next to me started feeding them, and their feathers were all over me.

But I was also scared to stand up and go away, because that might scare them and they would flock straight into me. Although it is forbidden to feed the pigeons at several points throughout the city of Barcelona, this rule seems to be simply ignored at Plaza de Catalunya. So, in case you are looking for a quiet place to sit, this just avoid this square and go elsewhere.

Besides pigeons, there is another reason (well, it is also involving them). There is a lot of kids on skates and rollerblades, and it seems like a great fun to them to 'drive' through a flock of pigeons, and then they start flying around, and if you are passing by just at that time, you can only hope that you do not have your best clothes on.

And, anoher, for me particularly annoying thing, that I cannot escape neither here in Barcelona, nor elsewhere, are people, trying to sell you some stuff. I mean, it is okay if you have a stall, and if I want to buy something from you, I would go there and buy it. Seriously, it is so annoying for me when people approach me and start pushing me into buying some useless stuff. No, thanks, I really do not need a selfie stick. And I do not need a bottle of water either.

Basically, the only interesting thing on this square is its central part, which is very spacious and open. Otherwise, Plaza de Catalunya is surrounded by trees on all sides, and there is even a fountain on it! But, as you have probably guessed by yourself, the water in the fountain is very dirty, so it made me sick when I just looked at it.

As I said before, the square is big, but nothing special. The most interesting thing there are the surrounding buildings, but they are not even a part of the square.

Sights and other things to do nearby

The most famous point of interest, situated just on the other side of the street, is definitely the street 'La Rambla'. I have written something about it in one of my entries, so I will not repeat myself here.

There is also a very big El Corte Inglés shopping mall next to Plaça de Catalunya. I have never been to this store before (because we do not have it in Slovenia), and I was surprised how many things you can buy inside. Almost anything that you can think of. However, if you compare the prices in El Corte Inglés and other shopping malls, especially the prices of food, you will figure out that buying in El Corte Ingles is slightly more expensive, but nothing dramatic.

Other than that, Plaza de Catalunya is surrounded with buildings, which are very interesting for taking photos, but I do not know, what each one of them represents. As I have already mentioned, I am pretty new here in Barcelona, and I am still trying to discover as much as I can about this beautiful city.

Do not talk to strangers… They might find it annoying!

We were probably all listening to our parents at some point in our lives, when they were telling us that we should not talk to strangers. Well, my reponse to that was the following: I kept saying that I cannot make new friends if I do not talk to strangers. And now, when I travel, I always somehow end up talking with several interesting people.

But at Plaza Catalunya, this sentence is taken to a whole new level, because there, strangers talk to you. And for me, it is so annoying and uncomfortable! I am not a racist for what I will say in addition, but I seem to be a magnet for annoying Indian guys. Sometimes, I just like to walk around by myself, and then sit on a bench just to enjoy the place for a few minutes. But if I am alone, it does absolutely not mean that I am lonely and I want anyone to come near me.

In Plaza Catalunya, I had to change a bench four damn times, and, at the end, I gave up and went home, because that same guy kept following me and then, some of his friends also joined. And I clearly told them that I am not interested in anything. Well, I guess I will need a bodyguard. Any volunteers out there maybe?

For the end…

I wish that I could say that I liked Plaza Catalunya, but honestly, I did not. At least not as much as I hoped that I will. I mean, the square is nice, and its surroundings too, but I really would not go there again in my free time. After all, I am sure that there are several much nicer squares in Barcelona, which I yet have to discover.

If you fancy spending a weekend in Barcelona, have a look at this super useful guide, which will show you want you can do in Barcelona for the weekend.