Around Santa Maria del Mar

Santa Maria del Mar, in the heart of La Ribera/El Born, is today surrounded by a web of streets full of trendy boutiques, restaurants and tapas bars. Each of these streets, however, still bears the name of the medieval trade once concentrated there. In the Middle Ages, shops would identify themselves by hanging out a model of their goods; all that remains of these are one or two of the stone female faces that marked the brothels.

Walk up Carrer L’Espaseria for the famous view of Santa Maria’s campanile. This was the street of swordmakers, whose keen blades were as renowned as Toledo’s — looking at one was enough to wound, or so the Catalans claimed.

From here Carrer dels Asses leads into Carrer de les Dames, 'ladies’ street', where hopeful spinsters gathered after bad storms; unmarried sailors often vowed to marry the first single woman they saw on shore if they survived. Pots and pans were the speciality in the adjacent Plaça de les Olles.