El Born

The tour of El Born was my favorite field trip because it was my immediate neighborhood and area. It was very interesting walking along the narrow streets that I travel on every day and hearing the history and meaning behind them all from an expert.

I did not realize the importance of the Gothic area to the city of Barcelona. This was the heart and soul of the city for hundreds of years. The guilds that craftsmen used to work out of were in the narrow streets, usually behind a small door. We were able to enter one of these ancient small doors and travel up the original stare wells. I could not believe how small they were! It was typical for a guild worker or shop owner to live on one of the floors above the shop. The guilds represented hard work from the common man and specialization. This was a special era that lasted a long time until the guilds slowly started being put of out business by larger, more manufactured based, stores and businesses.