La Ribera / El Born

In 1907, the new Via Laietana cut the Barri Gòtic off from its medieval business end, the Barri de Sant Pere (home to Barcelona’s medieval textile manufacturers, surrounding the once-important church of the same name), and La Ribera, the old maritime and business district. No one seems to quite agree where the neighbourhood boundaries begin and end but traditionally it's all La Ribera—although the gentrified southern end prefers to be called El Born.

Back then, when Barceloneta was just a slip of sand and the sea washed up to what is now Avinguda Marquès de l’Argentera, there was a constant bustle as goods were ferried to and from waiting ships. When the Ramblas was still a sewer, the Passeig del Born was the throbbing heart of Barcelona, surrounded by artisans and their shops who worshipped at the beautiful church of Santa Maria del Mar, while tycoons in their grand Gothic palaces along Carrer Montcada wheeled and dealed in the Llotja, the hub of western Mediterranean commerce in the 13th and 14th centuries.