FIELD TRIP: Jewish Quarter and Gothic Quarter

The Jewish Quarter in Barcelona surprisingly has very little left to it.  I remember visiting Barcelona a few years ago with my family, and I really thought I saw more in the Jewish Quarter, but I guess not.  My family and I travel a lot and every time we travel to a new place we make sure we visit the Jewish Quarter, something that is very important to us.

In the 13th century, this was the center of Jewish life, but now this area is so small that it really does not seem like there is much life left. It is located in the tiny streets of El Call (the Call) right near Plaza St. Jaume.  Usually in a Jewish Quarter, there are little shops opened that sell Kosher meats and little gifts, but it is sad to me that there is very little left in Barcelona's Jewish Quarter.  The Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter is one of the oldest in Europe, yet there is very little life around there. I wish that we could still see the Synagogue, but only one level is opened to visitors.  One thing that I noticed though, was the Hebrew inscribed in the wall of the city, which I thought was pretty special to see.

In class we learned that the Jewish community had a good relationship with Jaume I because of the good navigation system the Jews had.  When the Jews were exiled from Spain in 1492, the Synagogue had been pretty much forgotten about until the 20th century.

After the Jewish quarter, we walked through the narrow streets of Barcelona and ended up in the Square Sant Felip Neri.  Like I said for my last field trip, I really enjoyed this because it was something that I might never have seen or know about.  Square Sant Felip Neri is an enclosed square that has only two entrances.  The church was built in 1750 to honor Sant Felip Neri, however in the 1930's it has a sad story.  Over 20 children were killed in a bombing raid that took place in 1938 because of Franco's raids.  Regardless of the awful events that occured in the Square of Sant Felip Neri, the church's facade is beautiful, and it is modeled after the baroque style.

I liked that in the narrow streets, Xavi pointed out little shops and cafes that are not usually known towards tourists.  I think that since it is my fifth week here, I should try and just get lost in the city of Barcelona and discovering what these narrow streets have to offer, instead of all of the touristy places I have been told about.