Royal Plaza - Placa Reial

The Plaça Reial is characterized by his architecture and its disposition as a court, with porches that lodge very calm terraces. The square has a central fountain and palms that provide very enjoyable shade during the evening. This square is very silent and seems to be disconnected of the city with marvelous lampposts.

The charming 19th-century square is just off the Ramblas and Carrer Ferran. It was the site of a Capuchin convent that was demolished in 1835 when Barcelona underwent a period of urban renewal. The architect Francesc Daniel Molina was put in charge of filling the vacant space with a square and housing in keeping with the haute bourgois style of the nearby Liceu. Plaça Reial has undergone a number of renovations since then and Antoni Gaudí designed the street-lamps in the shape of trees when still a young architect. The Las Tres Gracias fountain in the middle dates from the end of the 19th century. Now Plaça Reial is a meeting point for young people on their way to and from the nearby clubs and bars.

The Las Tres Gracias fountain in the middle dates from the end of the 19th century. Now Placa Reial is a meeting point for young people on their way to and from the nearby clubs and bars. The nightlife in this area just barely evaporates when on Sunday morning a stamp and coin market sets up. Quite near, there's a general crafts and flea market near the Columbus monument at the port end of the Rambla.

Nobel prize-winning novelist Gabriel García Marquez, architect and urban planner Oriol Bohigas, and Pasqual Maragall, president of the Catalonian Generalitat, are few of the many famous people known to have acquired apartments overlooking this potentially elegant square, a chiaroscuro masterpiece in which neoclassical symmetry clashes with big-city street squalor. Plaça Reial is bordered by stately ocher facades with balconies overlooking the wrought-iron Fountain of the Three Graces and treelike, snake-infested lampposts designed by Gaudí in 1879. Plaça Reial is most colorful on Sunday morning, when crowds gather to trade stamps and coins; after dark it's a center of downtown nightlife for the jazz-minded, the young, and the adventurous. Bar Glaciar, on the uphill corner toward the Rambla, is a booming beer station for young international travelers. La Taxidermista, across the way, is a good restaurant in the plaza; Tarantos has top flamenco performances; and Jamboree offers world-class jazz.

Among the lively festivities of the Plaça Reial just off Les Ramblas, it has long been one of the city's premier locations for good blues and jazz, although jazz is not featured every night. Sometimes a world-class performer will appear here, but most likely it is a younger group. One can be entertained by an evening of Chicago blues. Or one might find that a Latin dance band has been scheduled. As the night, the music changes totally and the place opens up as a nightclub for a young crowd, with hip-hop featuring downstairs and a more world music vibe upstairs. Most shows begin about 10pm to midnight.