Walking through history - Catalonia's street names
Durada: 26 min
26/07/2025
Street names offer a window into every town's history, culture, and identity, honoring important figures, historical events and places. In this week's podcast, we discover the stories behind some of Catalonia's street names.Journalists Oriol Escudé and Guifré Jordan join host Beth Cohen to look back through the history of urban toponyms and share a glossary of Catalan street vocabulary. Miquel Parella, Head of Toponymy at the Catalan Institute of Cartography and Geology, explains how street nomenclature has evolved over time, influenced by politics, Catalan language normalization and events such as the 2017 referendum. We also take to the streets of Barcelona to test people's knowledge of street names, hear about their personal favorites and discover what names they would choose if given the chance. This week we have a double Catalan phrase, "Anar pel bon camí" versus "Anar pel pedregar". They have opposing meanings;:"To be on the right track" versus "To be on the road to ruin".