El Raval! Fieldtrip 4

We first met at Cafe Zurich near Placa Catalunya for this fieldtrip to El Raval.  From there, we walked towards Las Ramblas and then walked off to the right of Las Ramblas into El Raval.  El Raval borders Las Ramblas.  It is located in the neighborhood of Ciutat Vella, which is close to the port in Barcelona.  It was very surprising to me to see because I had been living in Barcelona for three months and still had never been to this part of the city.  This part of the city has so much to offer.  It contains so much style and culture.  I am so lucky to have been taken on this fieldtrip and am fortunate that I was able to learn the history of this famous and important part of the city.  This part of the city is known historically for its nightlife.  However, El Raval has many cool restaurants and bars, there are no clubs located in this area.  This part of the city is home of many immigrants and young people living in Barcelona.  There are many parks and places where children can play and people can roller-skate or skateboard.  We passed a cool skate shop called ¨Free¨ that looks young and hip.  We also passed a cool hotel that our teacher recommended to us. There’s also a library in this area that has a modern style.  There are rentable bikes also located in this area, which is similar to many other parts of Barcelona.  During the fieldtrip we were taken to Foment de les Arts I del Disseny, which is a modern art museum.  We were able to go inside and there was a really cool exhibit with young and modern art.  The entire building was modern and the interior design made the artwork within it look even better.  The exhibit we saw is called La Incubadora Del Fad and it was there from April 14th until April 29th.  We were also taken to MACBA, which stands for Museu Dárt Contemporani De Barcelona.  This is a large, white very modern building.  Near this building we saw a big sign for a protest.  This sign was in black and white and had many images of different people in a collage.  It was large and made a statement.  Signs like these show the style and expression of personality and opinion of the local people of the city.  We learned about the garbage cans in El Raval also.  The way they are built is fascinating; you throw the garbage out in the correct bin and they are stored underground.  We also saw an Okupa house.  An Okupa house is a vacant building taken over by people and they move in and make it their home.  This building has graffiti all over it.  El Raval has so much style that you can see just from walking down the streets.  The various posters, graffiti, shops, and bars within El Raval all help to express the style and youngness of this part of Barcelona.  However, there is also an older part of El Raval where there are stone and ancient buildings that are now offices but still look the same as they did many years ago.