What Was Once Occupied by Jews Is Now Extinct! Fieldtrip 2

We went on a field trip to the Jewish Quarter of Barcelona, which is also located in the Gothic Area.  Our teacher explained to us a little bit of history about the Jews.  I learned that the Jewish community occupied Barcelona from 1200 to 1850 and during the year 1350, there was the first attack on the Jewish community in Barcelona.  During the field trip, we walked down different streets/alleys and learned about the landmarks.  Our teacher showed us different cafes that we can go to and have lunch at around 2:00 pm for some homemade food. We walked past the L’Antiga Sinagoga, which is a Medieval Major Synagogue. The Synagogue is located on Calle de Sant Domènec in Barcelona. We learned about how all the old little restaurants and shops are going out of business today and are becoming souvenir shops.  This is sad because these places and restaurants give the area character; it is really unfortunate that they are not making enough income to survive.  We also visited different apartment buildings and learned about what types of people lived on each floor.  The wealthiest people lived on the first floor and as the floors progressed, it was less expensive and not as nice apartments.  Xavier Alcon explained to us that when many of these apartment buildings were built, they were only legally allowed to have three floors; however, people illegally built the buildings with four floors and called the first floor Principal. Lastly, we visited Square Sant Felipe Neri, which is a church but today the outside fountain area is where children play during recess. In 1939, during the Spanish Civil War, people were lined up there for execution.  This filed trip was very informative and interesting because I was able to see a part of Spain that is so hidden yet so beautiful.