Rick Steves, aka the God of Travel, always has good self-guided walking tours in his books which make it almost like you have a guide with you. His walking tour of the Barri Gotic took us to Plaça de Sant Jaume, which houses this: the Palace of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia). Catalonia is NOT Spain, and it's very important you know that. Frankly, many Catalonians hate the Spanish government in Madrid and want to secede and form their own Catalan-speaking nation (they do NOT speak Spanish).