The Gothic Heart
From a quiet medieval square to the Roman forum where the city began — where nothing is quite as old as it looks.
The story finds you.
Self-guided audio walks, researched and fact-checked down to the last detail. Stand where each story happened, listen, then walk on.
Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastián, Istanbul and Rome. 2.99 € each, yours to keep.
How it works
Stop, listen, walk on.
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Choose a walk.
Pick your route — it loads onto your phone, ready to go.
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It starts on its own.
As you reach each stop, the audio begins instantly — no hunting for the right track.
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Walk on when you're ready.
Stand where it happened, listen, then carry on at your own pace.
Cities & tours
Every walk, researched and made for the place it belongs to.
Barcelona
5 walks
Gràcia — The Village That Refused To Disappear
Once an independent town, now a Barcelona neighbourhood that never quite stopped being itself.
Sea, Power & Memory — Part I: The Working Sea
The medieval waterfront, from the royal shipyards to the merchants' exchange — how the city that built ships became a Mediterranean power.
Sea, Power & Memory — Part II: The Reclaimed Shore
Most of the coastline you walk in Barcelona is barely thirty years old. Barcelona didn't find its beach — it made one.
Beyond the Walls
A wall is not a monument to a city's strength — it is a city admitting it is afraid.
Madrid
7 walks
Castizo Madrid — The Neighbourhood That Outlived Its Own Work
Madrid's most famous market grew up around a slaughter yard and a district of tanners — the work is long gone, but what it produced was the neighbourhood itself.
Gran Vía — They Started Building Paris and Finished New York
Madrid ordered a boulevard from a king, and took delivery of a skyline from a republic.
The Christmas Fire — The Night Madrid Lost Its Castle
On Christmas Eve 1734, the fortress that had been the heart of Madrid for eight hundred years burned to the ground while the city was at Midnight Mass.
Bourbon Madrid — The Hill of Sciences
A king laid four instruments along one gentle hill to teach Madrid how to look at the world — and they are all still here.
Habsburg Madrid — The Capital That Was Ordered Into Being
Madrid didn't become a capital. It was told to be one — with no ceremony and no decree, only a note about changing address.
Literary Madrid — Where the Golden Age Wrote and Fought
Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo and Góngora all lived within a few streets of each other — and most of them couldn't stand the sight of one another.
Malasaña — Named From Below
A convent named this corner of Madrid, then a university. The third name came from its own people.
San Sebastián
2 walks
The Soul of San Sebastián
From the elegance of La Concha to the working soul of the old harbour.
The Making of Donostia
Not a city that simply happened: from the day its walls came down in 1863 to a tobacco factory reborn as a cultural centre.
Istanbul
6 walks
Sultanahmet — Nothing Here Stayed What It Was
The most photographed square in Istanbul is a Roman racetrack, and the shops selling you carpets are standing on an imperial palace.
Divanyolu — What Mehmet Inherited Was a Ruin
The tram outside the Grand Bazaar runs on a Roman road, and the fountain up in Süleymaniye is called “under the arch” because it is.
Kadıköy & Moda — The Istanbul Across the Water
An oracle told the founders of Istanbul to settle opposite the land of the blind — and the land of the blind is where you're standing.
Bebek & Rumeli Hisarı — The Strait Before It Was a View
Everyone on this shore is looking at the water. That habit is about a hundred years old.
Dolmabahçe — The Palace Had Two Faces
A bay was filled in to make a garden, and a palace was put on the garden.
Galata & Pera — The Strength of Not Belonging
This district ran the empire's money without being the empire.
Rome
8 walks
Colosseum to Caracalla — A Gift to the People
Emperors gave Rome its greatest buildings as gifts: open to the whole city, and inside them, rank still decided your place.
Campo Marzio — Once Outside Rome
Outside its sacred line, Rome put everything it would not allow inside. That open field became the middle of the city.
St. Peter's — The View That Cost a Neighbourhood
Popes, architects and Napoleon all wanted this view. Nobody built it until 1936, and a whole quarter came down for it.
The Ghetto — Built to Convert
In 1555 a pope walled the Jews of Rome into a few streets by the Tiber, and the order said what it was for: to convert them.
Rome Ran Out of Water — And Took Its Hills Back
Rome lost its water and came down off its hills. This walk follows the one aqueduct that never stopped.
Testaccio — The Hill That Was Thrown Away
A hill made of millions of broken Roman oil jars, which the city's own heritage office calls the first sorted rubbish tip in history.
Esquilino — Written Over
The new Italy laid out a grand quarter for its clerks on the Esquiline. It did not go to plan.
Garbatella — The Workers' Utopia the Regime Finished
A garden city for workers, founded in 1920 and finished by a government that wanted it to do something else.
Why OpenEar
Made by hand, on foot.
Every word, checked.
We don't publish a story until it's researched and fact-checked. What you hear actually happened — exactly as it's told.
Built to be stood in.
Each story is made for one exact spot, so you hear it standing right where it happened.
One voice, the whole way.
A single narrator who knows the city, walking beside you like a friend.
FAQ
Good questions, honest answers.
Which cities can I walk?
Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastián, Istanbul and Rome. More cities are in the works.
Does it work offline?
Yes — completely. Download a walk and both the audio and the map work with no signal at all. Useful if you're roaming, underground, or just saving battery.
How long do I keep a tour?
Once you buy a walk, it's yours to keep — no time limit. Download it and come back to it whenever you like.
What languages can I listen in?
English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.
Do I need a guide or a group?
No. It's just you, your headphones, and your own pace. Start, pause, and walk whenever you like.
Start walking.