A stroll along the Rec Comtal

This is not one of the city’s most popular areas. In fact, many of Barcelona’s inhabitants have never set foot here, which is all the more reason for getting to know it. Our proposal is to take a stroll along the Rec Comtal section in the Vallbona neighbourhood, by the Besòs river in the Nou Barris district.

 

This is a 400 metre long, previously untended section of the city’s former water works which provides much needed shade during the summer months and has been renovated over recent years. Peaceful gardens and a riverside walkway make for a pleasant stroll through surroundings that can, at times, make us forget we are in the middle of a city.

 

The Rec Comtal begins in Montcada i Reixac and dates back to the 10th century, when it was built to appropriate the surface waters of the Besòs. From 1704 onwards, these waters were used to supply some of the city’s fountains, such as the one in Canaletes. In the Montcada section, one can still see the initial section of the irrigation channel before it goes underground once again some metres further on until it reaches the city limits, where it once again surfaces parallel to the river Besòs.