El Pont del Bisbe looks ancient. It isn't.

This ornate Neo-Gothic bridge, draped in stone gargoyles and elaborate tracery, was added to Barcelona's Gothic Quarter in 1929, connecting the Palau de la Generalitat to the President of Catalonia's official residence. The architect designed it for the region's president, not any bishop. The name, it turns out, is a polite fiction.

The bridge also comes with a skull and dagger carved into its underside. Legend has it that the architect, furious at being mocked for his fake-Gothic pastiche, added the skull as a curse: if the dagger is ever removed, all of Barcelona will crumble. A second legend offers a reward: walk backwards under the bridge, back turned to the skull, and your wish will be granted.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use the bridge to reveal how much of the Gothic Quarter is actually Neo-Gothic, built centuries after the era it mimics, and why that matters for how you read the city.