The Rambla is, of course, the best known landmark of Barcelona,
and deservedly so.
Meandering down from the Pl. de Catalunya to the Columbus statue,
filled with newspaper kiosks, flower and animal stalls, and all sorts of artists, it is undoubtedly the place where everyone comes together,
both tourists and locals.
Until 1860, the year in which Barcelona finally broke out from behind its city walls,
the city extended no further than the hexagon of the 15th century enclosure
( the present-day Casc Antic).
The only wide street at the heart of the city was La Rambla, an old stream whose name derives from the Arabic "ramla" meaning "sandy ground".
In 1775 the old city walls by the Drassanes medieval shipyards were demolished,
and toward the end of the 18th century the street began to be systematically developed:
la Rambla became a kind of tree-lined avenue.