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Las Ramblas area:
Five separate streets strung end to end,
La Rambla (also called Las Ramblas) is a tree-lined
pedestrian boulevard packed with buskers, living statues, mimes
and itinerant salespeople selling everything from lottery tickets to jewellery.
The noisy bird market on the second block of La Rambla is worth a stop,
as is the nearby Palau de la Virreina, a grand 18th-Century rococo mansion,
with arts and entertainment information and a ticket office.
Next door is La Rambla's most colourful market, the Mercat de la Boqueria.
Just south of the Boqueria, the Mosaic de Miró
punctuates the pavement, with one tile signed by the artist.
The next section of La Rambla boasts the Gran Teatre del Liceu,
the famous 19th-Century Opera House. Below the Plaça Reial, La Rambla
becomes decidedly seedy, with strip clubs and peep shows.
La Rambla terminates at the lofty Monument a Colom (Monument to Columbus)
and the harbour. You can ascend the monument by lift. The Reials Drassanes (Royal Shipyards)
stand just west of the monument, on Avinguda de les Drassanes, which house the fascinating
Museu Marítim. It has more seafaring paraphernalia than you'd care to wag a sextant at - boats, models, maps, paintings, ships' figureheads and 16th-Century galleys.
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