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Barcelona
Chen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm heading off to Barcelona tomorrow for 5 days and I have no idea what to expect aside from the Mediterranean coast. All I know is that Catalonians love seafood, the architecture is breathtaking and Camp Nou is the home of FC Barcelona. Anything particular I want to go to or know of? Thanks.
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There is a really good Picasso museum if you are into art. I found the Metro system very easy to use, even as a guy with about three words of Spanish. Most people under 35 seemed to speak english as well.
If you're going to Parc Guell you should try to go early in the morning, as otherwise you will not be seeing a single piece of architecture without 50 lardy ugly tourists trying to get a picture of it with their equally lardy and ugly children standing in front of it.
By far the most beautiful hospital you will ever see is the Hospital Sant Pau, you can walk around the yard for free, the buildings are all still in use, so you might not want to just walk in to them, but the entrance building showcases what the innards of the other old buildings must look like. It is not far from the Sagrada Famillia (IIRC if you walk to the backside of the Sagrada there is a lane with trees there - lots of places to get some coffee too - that leads straight to the hospital.)
The best thing is that it isn't flooded with aforementioned lardy and ugly tourists.
Someone I was with almost had their bag stolen from next to their feet at a bar, and late in the evening we saw someone merrily sawing through a bicycle lock with a hand hacksaw oblivious to the people strolling past. I would advise against making assumptions about how and where people might try to steal something, as they seemed to have a strange way of going about it.
Aquarium was apparently a bit rubbish but I passed on it myself. Architecture is indeed fantastic and its worth seeing as much as you can.
I did not feel more insecure in Barcelona than in other cities I have been to. I mean, I haven't visited the dark alleys in the middle of night, but the more central areas weren't worse than Rome or Amsterdam or Washington DC.
And don't wear a Red Devil's jersey.
Oh yeah, I never felt threatened at all in Barcelona, its just that theft is apparently a problem there. I did go see the Aquarium and I wasn't that impressed. Did not live up to guide book hype IMO.