On February 11th, we took our second field trip in my Barcelona City class. We met outside the Cathedral de Barcelona, which is a Gothic cathedral constructed during the 13th to the 15th centuries. The outside of the cathedral is actually a neo-gothic facade that was added in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the cathedral was undergoing a surface cleaning that only happens every ten years or so. Even with all the scaffolding and tarps surrounding the structure, the sheer magnificence was obvious. After meeting the class in front of the cathedral, we began our journey into the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. The architecture surrounding us was obviously from an earlier century, although many of the buildings had facades to cover their original structure. Xavi pointed out that the corners of streets were cut in a diagonal fasion in order to allow horse-drawn carriages to make turns without stopping. I found it fascinating that the orignal "blueprints" of the building had not been changed for over 700 years. Another interesting thing that we saw the center stone of the Medieval Barcelona, which was placed at the highest point in the ancient city. During those times, any person that stood on that point could see the Mediteranean Sea. Although, today the view is obscured by the tall building that have gone up since that time period. After seeing that stone, we went through a little passage that seemed to be the interior of some building. But as we moved into the building, we found ancient columns from the Temple of Agustus dating back over one thousand years. We actaully had to wait for another school group to clear out before we could sit down and marvel at their beauty. These three columns are some of the best preseved pieces of the ancient Roman Barcino. I found the columns to be one of the most interesting parts of the field trip, just on sheer age and historical relevance. Overall, the trip to the Cathedral and the Gothic Quarter was amazing.
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