I haven't been there for years, but El Raval always felt like the lively, edgy, characterful and startling side of the old town, where anything and anyone could appear from a doorway or window in an instant. Definitely my side of the tracks, and home to some of my favourite haunts - the grilled chicken shops, the bakery where they sold chocolate-filled croissants through a hatch in the wall at 5am to returning clubbers, the Bar Marsella, with its drag shows and absinthe...