Rambla dels Caputxins, Barcelona

The Gran Teatre del Liceu (officially Liceo Filarmónico Dramático Barcelonés de Su Majestad la Reina Isabel) is the largest opera house in Spain and next to La Scala Milan the second largest traditional theater in Europe. Built in 1844 and inaugurated in 1848 it conceals behind its somewhat plain facade a magnificent auditorium and 19th century wall and ceiling paintings in New Pompeian style. Many boxes are privately owned which limits the number of tickets available to the public.Many great singers, including Victoria de los Angeles, Montserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras began their careers at this opera house. Rebuilt in 1862 after a fire destroyed the original, the Liceu presents at least one Spanish opera a year. The season runs from November until March and visiting companies from France, Germany, Italy and Russia perform here.

The Plaça Reial (not to be confused with Plaça del Rei) is connected with the Rambla dels Caputxins by a short diagonal road (Carrer Colom). This beautiful square is enclosed by houses in the Classical style, the ground floors of which include arcades with shops and restaurants.The square was laid out in the middle of the 19th C. on the site of a former Capuchin monastery. Among palm trees in the center stands the beautiful Fountain of the Three Graces; the candelabra was designed by Antoni Gaudí. On Sundays the square is the busy scene of a coin and stamp market.In recent years the square has increasingly become the haunt of drug addicts.

The church of Sant Pau del Camp owes its name to the fact that it was built outside the town boundary at the time, i.e. actually in a field. The Avinguda de la Paral.lel now runs through here, forming the boundary between the old town and the new development at the foot of Montjuïc.Sant Pau del Camp is a Romanesque building dating from 1117, on a cruciform ground-plan with a triple-domed choir and a massive crossing-tower. Note the beautiful main door, with its marble capital from the West Gothic period. The groin-vaulted interior adjoins the Gothic chapter-house on its right, which in turn leads out into the cloister.