"The enclosure of the Ciutadella park had been surrounded by a palisade that preserved the works of the Exhibition from the interference of the curious. This fence, however, had many gaps; also the continuous and tumultuous coming and going through the gates of the palisade, people entering and leaving without organization or control of any kind allowed this obstacle to be overcome without problem. Onofre Bouvila put five pamphlets between his blouse and his chest, hid the others between two granite tombstones, next to the wall contiguous to the railway line, and slipped into the enclosure."
The City of Marvels, Eduardo Mendoza (1986)
Eduardo Mendoza's The City of Marvels and the streets Onofre Bouvila reaches continue to wind through corners, arcades, and smells of all kinds. The buildings of La Ribera bulge and further undulate the labyrinth of narrow streets that leads to where Bouvila ventured into clandestine Barcelona: a Ciutadella that is once again under construction, precisely rehabilitating those buildings that the protagonist saw emerge with the 1888 Universal Exhibition. More than one person now lives in that park that was the epicenter of Barcelona's transformation. This is told by Pedro, who knows all the details and stories of the place, from the countless sculptures to the progress of the works, and narrates them with exquisite vocabulary. From his bench and paying attention, he collects anecdotes of a Ciutadella and a city of poorly distributed marvels.
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