Eixample

Barcelona’s Eixample (the Enlargement) is comprised of streets that create a perfect city grid and are filled with every kind of storefront –from designer shops, corporate buildings, markets, and eateries from around the world. There is a great ion of chic bars and restaurants where you’ll be able to relax with some fine food and glass of Rioja. Most tourists only see the Pg. de Gràcia and Sagrada Família, but if you have the energy to explore the whole neighbourhood, you'll get a great lesson in Modernism and a better feel for the Barcelona beyond the tourist areas.

Eixample is bisected vertically by the Pg. de Gràcia, Barcelona’s avenue of high-end designer boutiques, into Eixample Esquerra (Left Enlargement) to the west and Eixample Dreta (Right Enlargement) to the east. Public Transportation: Metro lines 3, 4, 5, and the FCG trains run through Eixample; about half the city buses pass through this neighbourhood, and all nightbuses originate from Pl. de Catalunya.

The Eixample is remarkable for the unusual circumstances leading to its development. When the oppressive Bourbon walls around the old city were finally demolished in 1854, the Catalan cultural Renaixença was picking up. As the number of wealthy benefactors of industrialization grew, utopian socialist theories circulated like wildfire through philosophical circles, including that of Eixample designer Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer. Cerdà's plan for Barcelona's enlargement was to impose an equal social community through uniformity of space and building design; however, once Eixample was built, rich industrialists harassed rising young architects to turn the new houses into overt displays of privilege in an early move of gentrification. Cerdà's interior garden designs that were once the interior of every city block, were later built over by land-developers in the interests of greater profits.

Despite the fact that today's Eixample is not an accurate incarnation of Cerdà's original plan, the neighbourhood boasts hundreds of interesting building facades and is a fabulous place to wander; particularly for those who are claustrophobic and who feel cramped in the tight spaces of the older neighbourhoods.

RECOMMENDED NIGHTLIFE
Razzmatazz, OttoZutz, Black Sheep, City Hall, LeKasBah, Sutton, Mondo, Danzatoria, Shoko, Opium Mar, Rivelinos, Opium Cinema, CDLC, Catwalk, La Terraza, Discothèque, Chupito Bar, Princesa 23, Nasty Mondays, Liquid, Pepino, Kharma, Roxy, entre otros.

AREAS IN THE DISTRICTS
Sants, Hostafrancs, La Bordeta, Poble Sec, Font de la Guatlla, Magòria, La Marina, Zona Franca y Montjuic.

RECOMMENDED MUSEUMS
El MACBA, Picasso, Joan Miró, Gaudí, MNAC, Museo de Cera de Barcelona, Museo Marítimo, FC Barcelona, Olímpico y del Deporte.

RECOMMENDED SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES
EADA, EAE, Uniersidad de Barcelona, IED, Universidad Autónoma, La Salle, ABC, Don Quijote, ESERP, Speak Easy, European University, IS, Olé Languages.

SHOPPING CENTERS
Eroski, Caprabo, Consum.