The Born- La Ribera Quarter

November 2, 2009

Mood: wanting to explore

Weekend Travels: Amsterdam

Well, normally I really dislike going on field trips with my classes in Barcelona. But, lately I have felt as if walking around the city really sets off my imagination and helps me understand what I am learning about. I am a very hands on visual learning so when I sit in class and listen to a teacher lecture it always just seems one-dimensional to me. So today we walked to the Born area. I forgot to bring my camera but the main thing that stood out to me on the trip was the small street guilds. Walking along the streets I could imagine families working together in the apartment buildings. Each apartment building organized vertically. The bottom floor was the workshop and the richest/ owner lived on the primary floors. While, workers and poor lived above. I could just picture the fathers and sons and men running the leather, wool and iron shops.

Especially, on Carrer Dels canvis, Via Italiana and Carrer Del Cotoners. One thing that stood out that our teacher, Xavi, said was that Via Italiana was “Manhattan Like”. This one street was the center of trade and commerce. It made me think about the progress that modernization with new technologies has made. Even though commercial marketing and large businesses have taken over they have just moved to a larger scale. Even though some companies that make leather and other products have advanced technology many are still family businesses during their life around the local commerce area. Even though, that area may be Placa Catalunya or Manhattan New York. Not only, are these markets similar but the Port and “Stock Market” we saw seemed very similar to my hometown San Fransisco or other large cities like Barcelona and New York. All of these major cities are local on a Port. Where they are constantly receiving foreign travelers importing and exporting new and needed goods. These cities have a mix of cultures, goods and immigrants and I think it’s really one of the reasons while I love these cities.