The heart of the city is Ciutat Vella or the Barcelona’s old town. It’s made up of many small neighborhoods. All these neighborhoods are full of old-world character and are linked by narrow, winding streets. Students, foreigners and artists have moved into the area, attracted by its sense of old town, or Ciutat Vella, though it faced many years of decline.

The Ciutat Vella is the historical centre of Barcelona. During earlier times, Barcelona was only a small Roman village called Barcino, surrounded by a massive defensive wall. During the 14th and 15th century it grew rapidly and today the small winding streets, gothic buildings and medieval places still remember of Barcelona’s golden era. The best way to discover the Ciutat Vella in Barcelona is by foot -drift along the small streets and enjoy the lively atmosphere.

In 1907 the Laietana route was made with the idea of communicating Ensanche with the harbor zone, a straight street to clear the labyrinth of streets that went from Plaza Urquinaona to the port. The first section that was inaugurated, equivalent to its superior segment, originally received the name of carrier of Bilbao Engalanaba the modernist building of the Caixa of pensions.

The old helmet of Barcelona is basically divided in four parts - the power station (Gothic), between the Boulevard and the Route,- Laietana- to the west, the Shore/Born, between the Route Layetana and the street Commerce; the Raval, between the Boulevard and the Parallel, and to the south, the fishing district of the Barcelona.

The central seat was the old Roman forum, center of the economic and social activity of the city. In the center was surrounded by an immense wall that protected the Romans of the Barbarians, the tribe’s spades, or layetanas. The Roman wall, of which only boundaries is left, formed a present oval perimeter that included the Avenue of the Cathedral, Plaça Nova, and the streets Palla, Banys Nous, avinyó, Gignàs, Correu Vell and Sostinent Navarro.

The Average Age the Roman forum becomes the seat of Sant Jaime, which would happen to be the political center, and where the independent seat of the governments is located at the moment, the Generalitat de Catalunya. In the Museum of History of the City, in the Plaça of the King, one will find in sub single the vestiges of the populations that were in the zone to the length of the centuries: Romans, visigodos, Arabs, francs.

The Gótic, central zone, were developed like the most important zone of the city, with commerce, and the seats of the political power. The Shore, harbor zone and marine district, also known like district the Born, were connected with the Gothic one with the walls erected in the s. XIII. Already the s. XX, through the opening of the Route Laietana, it happens to comprise of downtown. From the viewpoint of Columbus, situated in the zone of the Port Vell, a unique Vista of the city can be contemplated.