EAE News
Discovering Barcelona: Tour around the Gothic Quarter
17 de December de 2019
EAE Business School is very aware that knowledge is not only acquired in classrooms, but also in cities. Find out about the School’s tour of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter
Barcelona is famous for its Art Nouveau history, but it also has a wealth of medieval heritage. The city is both innovative and traditional. Here, graffiti and literature sit happily side by side. Football and opera stroll hand in hand. Getting to know and appreciate the vibrant contrasts in the Catalan capital is a learning experience all by itself, a fact that the team at EAE Business School is very aware of. With this in mind, at the start of each academic year and postgraduate program, the School organizes different tours around various parts of the city, the latest of which gave participants an insight into the Gothic Quarter on 10th December.
Organized by the Director of Programs, Nuria González, and led by the guide María Jesús, around 15 students of different nationalities and Master programs took part in the tour of the Gothic Quarter. The meeting point was Plaça del Rei, located right at the heart of the Gothic Quarter. From there, at 11:00, the group began the walking tour around some of the area’s most iconic landmarks.
Plaça de la Catedral, the columns of the Roman theatre, Plaça Sant Jaume and the Catedral del Mar were among the most visited sights on the route, However, as the organizer Nuria González explained, the tour varies depending on the season. In December, for instance, as it is Christmas, participants are usually taken to the Nativity scene in Plaça Sant Jaume and the Santa Llúcia Christmas Fair, both iconic attractions of the Gothic Quarter at this time of year.
González emphasized that the tour of the Gothic Quarter is part of the Events and Conferences Department that, every year, organizes different types of activities for full-time and part-time students. As well as tours, conference and talks, the Department runs charity initiatives that also enhance the experience of the young people in the city, including book sales of the feast of Sant Jordi and other volunteering activities.
On the tour of the Gothic Quarter, Jonatan Valencia, a Peruvian student on the Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, explained that not only is he impressed by the standard of the lecturers at EAE Business School, but also by everything that Barcelona has to offer: historical sites, beaches and innovation and technology hubs. He arrived in the city in October and emphasized his enthusiasm to make the most of the year ahead, while he is on his Master.
The tour around the Gothic Quarter normally lasts no longer than an hour and a half, and this case was no exception. After a good helping of history and architecture, the students went back to their other activities, but now with a greater insight into the city in which they are living.