L’Esquerra del Example .. the window of Barcelona

If you move under the sun rays of  Barcelona, through the streets surrounding street Paseo de Garcia – one of the main streets of the city – filled with commercial outlets, it would not be strange to see the beauty of the L’Esquerra del Example area, buildings dating back to the nineteenth century, which represent the geographical and architectural heart of the city. Stretch wonderful modern buildings on both sides of the street, which is designed on a tree-lined, with the great overlooking of the delightful displays of shops ranging from the polished furniture to stylish shoes and cloths and for sure the well famous handmade chocolates.

 
Behind the huge facade of  L’Esquerra del Example a rare combination of public gardens and courtyards that provide a haven from the speed of urban areas and highlights the simple daily life in Barcelona.

Many of these green spaces in recent years are constitute the patios between blocks which are accessed through narrow corridors or through buildings open doors. Those green spaces are the perfect place to rest during the sightseeing of L’Esquerra del Example which runs from the old city neighborhoods to some modern area’s such as Garcia, especially if you take your children.

When you roaming in Quadrat de Orr (the middle section of L’Esquerra del Example known with some awsome modern architecture) you must visit Pallaio Robert park, this house, which dates back to the late nineteenth century and now is the Catalonia tourism head office.The house garden filled with palm trees and citrus trees and orange. Gardens in this area were also part of the property of the Spanish noble Robert E. Cyrus. You can access the park through the door of the palace, located in Paseo de Garcia, 107  or through two massive gates near the turn of Diagonal.

Although Barcelona, has a real lack of availability of water problem in comparison with other European cities like Paris or London, and the fact that some L’Esquerra del Example gardens paved with gravel or a few green, but it is more interesting to see humans enjoying life in this lovely places maybe even more than patches of plant life.

If  you could get some few minutes of your time during your efforts to buy cooking utensils of the famous shop Vicu you can sit in a quiet garden behind the store and see the undulating balconies on the facade of a building such as a rare Casa Mila Antonio Guadi. If you want to know more about the local population live just visit the park at the end of  Bacja Rector Oliver where children can climb wooden toys under the existing Gothic church of the Virgin Mary that was built in the late nineteenth century and this building stones were transferred stone by stone from the ancient capital .

You can also sit by the swimming pool with the shallow blue water that comes through a dark corridor in the Calle Roger de urea 56 – one of the oldest courtyards which were returned to the public by the city in the late eighties and the home of a cylindrical water tower was built of stone – (the ticket price during summer is 1.45 euros).

Francis Ramirez Meonoz – urban geography professor at the University of Barcelona – said during a stroll through L’Esquerra del Example: «This patios like a window of  Barcelona, you can be urban tourists to see the work of the city from inside». Those patches of green spaces in the urban network of L’Esquerra del Example reference to look Iidlfons Terda E. Soner, a Progressive civil engineer This year (2009)  marks the 150 anniversary of his designing for this area.

When he presented his plan in 1859, the city was painted in his mind more practical than a place for the gentry and the wealthy, he imagined a city like a socialism Utopia where the rich and the poor live side by side in close-sized apartment buildings surrounded by parks and gardens. Barcelona was then a busy street dominated by diseases clustered around the port, surrounded by walls dating back to the Middle Ages, which is located behind a wide swath turned in to L’Esquerra del Example. Life was for the working class bleak short and the average age of the average person was 36 years at this time!!.

Terda predicted the modern age needs in his design that the city has evolved to become one of the most important and most active cities in Europe. Recovered the city by railway lines, and designed wide streets that can accommodate trains and trams.

Lewis Pernymer – Catalan journalist – who wrote a book about L’Esquerra del Example said: «Terda was long ahead of his time, and modernity to the extent that few at the time realized his genius. Not only today only recognize the importance of this man ». Some streets have become more equal than others through the streets where it is deployed large luxury homes that have made L’Esquerra del Example exhibition of modern architecture, such as Goody and Luis Domenech I Montar and Josep Puig i Kadavalic, while nearby streets are unpaved and there is the strengthening of public health.

The greedy real estate developers built a higher buildings than Terda planed, preventing the light of the sun and removed the public spaces that were supposed to be a healthy and pleasant place (just like any other urban planners in the nineteenth century, it was believed that good ventilation to prevent the spread of diseases), and filled squares within each block with shops and offices.

However, the green spaces that Terda wanted to be a typical feature of L’Esquerra del Example become an urgent need contemporary. In an attempt to increase the green areas in Barcelona, the city set up 40 park and plans to add more in addition to the establishment of a network of pedestrian areas only. Professor Meonoz: «We are back to the idea of Terda origin. The vision that we have of the city now does not differ much from those obtained in the 150-year-old ».