El Born & Santa Maria del Mar

El Born · Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar

The sailors' church, then lanes of bakeries, bars and boutiques

Hours

Streets always open; check church visiting hours on site

Tickets

Streets free; tourist entry to Santa Maria del Mar is paid (check price on site)

Address

Plaça de Santa Maria 1 (the church); behind it Passeig del Born runs to the old market hall, now the El Born cultural centre

Come out of Carrer de Montcada, home of the Picasso Museum, and Santa Maria del Mar blocks the way: a Catalan Gothic church begun in 1329 and finished in 1383, built for the people of the port. Inside it is plain, the columns slender, the space startlingly wide and bright. Behind it, Passeig del Born is lined with little bakeries and bars, and at its far end the old market hall, now the El Born cultural centre, lets you look down on excavated streets from the early 1700s. After dark, strings of lights come on across the lanes.