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La Rambla or Les Rambles (Catalan) / Las Ramblas (Spanish) is an iconic
and busy street in central Barcelona, popular with both tourists and locals
alike.
A kilometer-long tree-lined pedestrian mall in the Barri Gòtic,
it connects Plaça de Catalunya in the center with the Christopher
Columbus monument at Port Vell. Usually full of street theatre, cafés
and market stalls, it serves as the emotional hub of Barcelona.
Officially, La Rambla is a series of shorter streets, each differently
named, hence the plural form Les Rambles. From the Plaça de Catalunya
toward the harbor, the street is successively the Rambla de Canaletes,
the Rambla dels Estudis, the Rambla de Sant Josep, the Rambla dels Caputxins,
and the Rambla de Santa Monica. Construction of the Maremàgnum
in the early 1990s resulted in a continuation of La Rambla on a wooden
walkway into the harbor, the Rambla de Mar.
When walking down La Rambla one can visit its many small shops or enjoy
watching the various performances (actors, mimes etc.). There are also
several vendors trying to sell paper figures they claim are capable of
dancing (see Dancing puppets trick). La Rambla can be pretty crowded,
especially during the "prime-time" tourist season. For this
reason, it has become a prime target for pickpockets. Lots of unwary tourists
have had their wallets stolen on this street.
Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the
only street in the world which I wish would never end".
The name La Rambla means, in Spanish and Catalan, an intermittent water
flow, and is derived from the Arabic 'Ramla' which means 'sandy riverbed'.

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