The Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes is the gateway to one of Europe’s biggest urban regeneration schemes, begun early in this century to revitalize the decayed industrial area of Poblenou. Spanning 115 blocks, it’s also known as 22@ (more on that later).
On the east side of Glòries, in addition to the Torre Agbar, there is the new BCD, the Barcelona Centre de Disseny (design centre), new parks and open spaces, and the Mercat dels Encants – a flea market whose roots go back to the 14th century.
Though you’d never guess on first impression.
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The new Mercat dels Encants is where you can find vintage clothing, antique furniture, Star Wars memorabilia and just plain rubbish among the bargains. Go for the architecture – a spectacular canopy in reflective gold glass (see how they did it here) that replaced the old open-air market on another part of Glòries.
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Barcelona loves its traditional markets, the anchors of their neighbourhoods. There are 10 in the central area alone, 45 throughout the city – many refurbished or rebuilt, some now dominated by tourism and some in tough competitive positions with supermarkets and big boxes.
Indeed, less than half a kilometre from Mercat dels Encants is Centro Comercial Glòries – here are your McDonald’s, Starbucks, Disney and several hundred other brand-name stores (plus 3,000 underground parking spaces).
Though opened in 1995, with a facelift since then, it was one of the first shopping centres to have an open-plan design, no surface parking and an internal layout of open-air ‘streets’ that actually connect to the surrounding district (right, click to enlarge).
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Centro Comercial Glòries
Centro Comercial Glòries
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That’s Spain for you – traditional and contemporary in a constant dialogue.
