Hello mommy!!!
This weekend was raining!!! After a week with high temperature on Sunday started to rain and didn’t stop until Monday!! And we went to Gavà because it was the annual local festival, but it was cancelled 
But today the sun came out again and we did an “spooky” itinerary!!! We visited some places where something paranormal succeeded and Zero told us about them. This is the map:
Our itinerary is “La Rambla maleïda” (The damned Rambla), so we took the train to the city center, where all started.
In the train, we read about the places we went to visit.
This is Plaça Catalunya, the city center (although it’s not the geological center). But it’s a comercial knot where some important streets born.
La Rambla is one of those important streets and is where our itinerary starts. Do you know that this street was a simple torrent until XIX?
In this part of the street was the old gate of “Sant Sever” with its towers called “Canaletes”, wich gave the name to the most famous fountain of the city, “La font de Canaletes”. TezTez and Zero where here few days ago (they told me that this the fountain where people celebrates when Barça wins an important match), but I didn’t, and, moreover, Zero didn’t tell the spooky story 
People say that, in the middle of XIX, there was a “Ghost of Canaletes” who walked around the area. One night, nobody knows why, talked to some girls that were taking water from the fountain with their jugs and they were so terrified that they spent some days in bed. People decided to face the ghost, but it disappeared.
Maybe the ghost was a victim of that enchanted waters because, according to an old tradition, who drink water of this fountain fall in love with the city and never can’t depart.
In the base of the fountain there’s a plaque where is written: “If you drink water of this ‘font de Canaletes’ you will be a Barcelona lover forever and don’t mind how far you go because you will always come back”.
And this is the moment when I fell in love with this beautiful city!!!
Then we went to “Carrer Estruc”. “Estruc” comes from “astruc” that at the same time comes from “astròleg” (astrologer) and also was the name of an herb used in medicine. In this street there’s a plaque that explains this and also explains that this street had the name “Astruc Sacanera” at the beginning of XV and there was where “Pedra Escurçonera” (a natural herb, a cure against rage and pricking) was sold. At number 22 of this street is the exactly place where it was sold.
We continued until “Portal de l’Àngel”. In the place where is situated this fountain (it seems like “Font de Canaletes”) there was a well where lived a hell being. Maybe this being wasn’t so mischievous… In the middle of XIX, an stranger stole the keys of the city, but he wasn’t able to leave the city because the access points were closed. Thirsty and unknowing the story about that well, he wanted to drink some water, but two pale hands come out from the well and asphyxiated him. The day after, his body and the keys were found next to the well and this was enough to verify that a phantom lived there.
We went to the church of Santa Anna. There, at the beginning of XX, two students attend a died mate which had a long beard that obsess one of that students which bet with his friend that he was capable to pull out three hairs of that beard. When he pulled out one, the corpse moved a little. Then, he pulled out another one and the corpse moved again. But when the student pulled out the third hair, the corpse woke up, opened the eyes, took a chandelier and threw it to the student who ran away. The clerk of the church keep that chandelier as a proof, but we didn’t see that because the church was closed
Our next stop was in “Carrer de Bertrellans”. In this street was situated the first coffin manufacturer. The marketing of the coffins consist in a card with the name and the address of the manufacturer and a note that said that any client complained about the quality of their coffins. People says that a corpse who was a “client” of the manufacturer of this street, was so uncomfortable in his coffin that woke up and go to the next room where the manufacturer was working and said to him: “Your coffins aren’t worth anything!! What an uncomfortable short time!”. The manufacturer was faint-hearted and since then nobody dares to say that any client complained.
We continued our way and we found an interesting thing. Maybe it’s an spooky place but it isn’t in our itinerary. This is the sepulchral roman way discovered during the construction of a building in 1954.
We arrived again at La Rambla and at number 107 we found “el palau de la Virreina” (the palace of Vicequeen). This palace was built on XVIII and is where Vicequeen lived before to become a tormented soul. I will explain you later…
We went straight on and arrived at “Mercat de la Boqueria”, a very known market where people sell everything. If they don’t sell it, it’s because doesn’t exist! There’s a shop where insects are sold to eat!!! But it was closed
This wonderful place keeps an spooky story too. This market was built over the ruins of “convent dels Carmelites Descalços de Sant Josep” (Discalced Carmelite of Saint Joseph Convent). On 15th July, 1835, the friars decided to not celebrate the vigil. The day after, while the friars slept, some voices were singing psalms and woke them up. They run to the church and were able to see some skeletons with monastic customs celebrating the vigil. They followed the skeletons to the cemetery and saw how they went inside their graves. Ten days later the convent was burned. People say that on 15th July you can listen some voices during the night inside the market.
This is “el Pla de la Boqueria”. Today is decorated by Joan Miró, a very known painter, but some centuries ago, was the place where dead animals, tripes, intestines… were sold, things that were related with satanism.
Our next stop was “el Liceu”, an opera theatre. Its story is sooo long, but Zero did a summary. This theatre was built over the ruins of “convent dels Trinitaris Descalços de la Bona Nova”, a burned convent, on 1844 and on 4th april 1847 was opened for the first time. On 1852 there was celebrated the Carnival but a friar shout that they were dancing over sacred land and predicted that it will be burned. This was a reality on 9th april 1861. An old man said that if the liceum was built again, will be burned again, because it was a damned place. Six months later, the liceum was re-built, with water tanks on the roof for if in the future there’s another fire. But one day a very strong storm started and flooded the theatre. The liceum was finally built but on 7th november 1893, two Orsini bombs were thrown in the theatre but only one exploded. This doesn’t end here. On 8th April 1945, the roof fell, luckily there wasn’t people inside. And on 31st january 1994, a worker was repairing the firewall with a soldering iron and there was two workers with fire-extinguishers but a little spark got the curtain and all the theatre burned again. Since then, nothing has happened, but who knows…
We are coming to the end of our itinerary. We went to “Carrer Arc del Teatre”. In this street you can see on 24th june, during the night, the spirit of Herod’s daughters dancing, but without heads!! They are sentenced for Saint John the Baptist’s decapitation to dance for the eternity.
And finally, “la plaça Reial” (Royal Square). Do you remember that I told you about Vicequeen? She was Maria Francesca Fiveller i Bru and she got to marriage of convenience with the nephew of Viceroy of Perú. But he left her alone at the altar and the Viceroy, an old and womaniser man, got marriage with her. Three years later she was widowed. And after her death, her spirit walks around this square, but nobody knows why. We couldn’t see her.
Well, this has ended!! What a funny walk!!! It was long, but scary and interesting!! I hope you like it, mommyt! Wish you were here with me!
I love you!! Bye!!!
