Gothic Quarter

Now, we were put on this hotel by, uh, a friend of mine who's a luxury travel advisor when we booked, um, this particular trip.

And, um, at, at this hotel, and they, when we arrived, you had to, you know, we were waiting to check in 'cause we had a bit of time, and they said, "Oh, just go up to the rooftop bar." And I was thinking, "Oh, yeah, you know, whatever." So, um, we wander up, and you have the most incredible views of the Gothic Quarter and the cathedral.

You're literally looking right out at the cathedral.

It's right in front of you.

The worst best I've known was Bangkok, where cowboys on crotch rockets hurtle you through the eternally stalled traffic, your knees perilously grazing the vehicles, which create the moving walls of a slot canyon.

The historic center of Cartagena would have been lovely 20 years ago, but is another victim of overtourism, a Disneyfied caricature on par with Barcelona's Barrio Gótico, or the entirety of Venice.

But just outside the old city walls is the barrio Ghezzamani, which still has a soul and an edge.

Radiating outwards from Ghezzamani's lively Plaza Trinidad are narrow, pedestrian-friendly streets draped with strings of blinking lights and little flags fluttering in the evening sea breezes.

In a vast ring around the outskirts, the anarchists were masters of all they surveyed.

Deeper in, among the narrow lanes of the Gothic Quarter, the old stone heart of the city, the two sides stood more evenly matched.

In Catalonia Square, the anarchists held the telephone exchange, while across the way, the communists dug into the Hotel Colon, their machine guns raking the open ground from the windows.

That night, behind those barricades, a terrible question hung in the smoke.

hotel.I can think of several towns right now where that's exactly the case.

Um, Barcelona's Gothic Quarter is a perfect example.

Rome's medieval quarter.

And what's fun is even American cities have our, you know, the oldest ones, we have a Gothic Quarter, or so it would seem, in Boston, in, in New York City.

You know, Wall Street-

Yeah