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Sooner or later, every visitor joins the locals swarming day and
night down La Rambla, the most famous walkway in Spain. The name
La Rambfla, derived from ramla (Arabic for 'torrent'), acts as a
reminder that in privious times, the street was a sandy gully that
ran parallel to the medieval wall, and carried rainwater away down
to the sea.
Today's magnificent 18th-century tree-lined walkway ran through
the center of the old city and down to the port. Today La Rambla
is the pride of Barcelona. The central promenade is split into various
distinctive sections strung head-to-tail, each with their own history
and characteristics, from the flower stalls along Rambla de les
Flors to the birdcages of Rambla dels Ocells. And it is said if
you drink from the famous fountain in La Rambla de Canaletes you
are sure to return to the city.
Promenading La Rambla is never the same twice, changing with the
seasons, by the day and by the hour. It's an experience eagerly
shared by people from every walk of life - tourists, locals, bankers,
Barca fans, artists, beggars, street-performers, newspaper-sellers,
pickpockets, night clubbers, students, lovers and theatre crowds
- all blending together with the noise of the traffic, the birdsong,
the buskers, and the scent of the flowers.
Such is the significance to the city of this promenade par excellence,
that two words - ramblelar (a verb meaning 'to walk down the Rambla')
and ramblista (an adjective describing, someone addicted to the
act of ramblelan – have been adopted in its honour.
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