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El Raval |
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El Raval |
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This is, to our knowledge, the only neighbourhood that has inspired a verb; Ravalejar – word that means to go out to experience El Raval. These days the whole area is, more or less, being reformed. The last dozen years have seen two main vehicles for transforming the area: the Museo d’Art Contemporani (MACBA) and the Rambla del Raval. MACBA penned by American architect Richard Meier and opened in 1995 was to signal the first leg of the urban renewal project in Raval. The area is an attractive place to experience exhibitions at MACBA or at the neighbouring institutions of CCCB (the centre for contemporary culture) and Convent dels Ángels (a 400 year old convent now exhibition space for design). At "the other end" of El Raval are the former royal shipyards (Drassanes), now the Museum Maritím. A visit here is, nevertheless, an intriguing insight into Barcelona's maritime history.
In 2001, a few blocks of derelict buildings were replaced by a typically Catalan street: a rambla, Rambla del Raval. This introduction of a rambla, as a centre point of the area, has also established a new openness here, a place to meet up and hang-out on an everyday basis and at fiestas. The surrounding streets contain a fascinating mix of stores and restaurants with a choice bars, pubs, nightclubs and ballrooms (that also function as discos/concert spaces). Further west, towards the MACBA, there are restaurants with a more “artsy” flare, specialising in contemporary, more experimental cuisine. And, for the food conscious, there is no excuse not to visit La Boquería, located by Las Ramblas and perhaps the most spectacular food-market in Europe. There’s hardly any eatable produce known to man that is not at hand here, and immersing yourself in the rapid exchange that goes on here, gives new meaning to the term shopping experience. These days El Raval presents itself as a multi-cultural, vibrant and welcoming neighbourhood. And, it doesn’t hurt that it is less expensive to enjoy a night out here than in other parts of Barcelona.
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