Barcelona

Skeeter

Skeeter

Skeeter

Caporegime
Joined
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Surrey
Going for a city break and will have 4 or 5 days in and around Barcelona. What do people suggest I go see/do? Got the usual tourist stuff planned, but interested in anything less obvious. We have a hire car too so can drive to places outside the city too.
 
Probably best to get your wallet, passport, camera etc. stolen when you arrive to save messing around waiting for it to happen whilst sightseeing.
 
I wen't about a month ago, tbf, it was a lads holiday so we just got hammered all the time.

Las Ramblas is obviously the place to go for that, Club on the beach was amazing, shame everyone in it was so arrogant and rude.

I'm not going again, 2 out of the 8 of us got robbed, can go so many other nicer places for the same money...
 
I went twice last year, or was it 2012... Christ?! Either way, never robbed once. Felt fine. I did all the architecture, walked around the whole city and really liked it.
 
infernox said:
I wen't about a month ago, tbf, it was a lads holiday so we just got hammered all the time.

Las Ramblas is obviously the place to go for that, Club on the beach was amazing, shame everyone in it was so arrogant and rude.

I'm not going again, 2 out of the 8 of us got robbed, can go so many other nicer places for the same money...
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If you are going to get hammered all the time then you are going to stick out a country mile as easy pickings.

Just use your common sense and Barcelona is no different from anywhere else.
 
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Exactly. Common sense helps a lot, coupled with just being alert. No different to any city where pick pocketing and petty theft are common.

So other than making sure I don't get robbed, what else should I do?
 
Skeeter said:
Exactly. Common sense helps a lot, coupled with just being alert. No different to any city where pick pocketing and petty theft are common.

So other than making sure I don't get robbed, what else should I do?
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/re the robbery thing, it's true of any busy city. I've been to a few and I have been fine (probably helps being a 6 foot 6 out house :D, but just use common sense)

Anyway, there is quite a famous football club there ;), well worth a stadium tour.

If you do not know much about the club, or it's social and cultural history and it's relationship to the people, pick up a copy of Fear and Loathing in La LIGA Barcelona VS Real Madrid, by Dr Sid Lowe :) an absolutely fantastic book that I hope would help anyone appreciate the clubs and what they stand for.
 
Link to the book here.

It really is a top notch read from the wonderful and charming Sid Lowe :).

It's Messi vs Ronaldo, it's Catalonia vs Castilla. It's the nation against the state, freedom fighters vs Franco's fascists. It's majestic goals and mesmerising skills, red cards and bench brawls. It's the best two teams on the planet going face to face and toe to toe. It's more than a game. It's a war. It's Barcelona vs Real Madrid.



...Only, it's not that simple. From the wounds left by the civil war to the teams' recent global domination, historian and expert on Spanish football, Sid Lowe lifts the lid on sport's greatest rivalry. Lowe has spoken to the biggest names and the forgotten heroes who defined their clubs. Men like Alfredo Di Stéfano and Johan Cruyff as well as the only survivor of the most politically charged game in history, the Barcelona striker who knocked Madrid out of the European Cup for the first time ever, and the president who celebrated his club's defining moment by taking a midnight dip in the Thames.



By exploring the history, politics, culture, economics and language, while never forgetting the drama on the pitch, Lowe demonstrates the symbiotic nature of the relationship between these two football giants. In doing so he reveals the human story behind this explosive rivalry.
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Unfortunately I couldn't care less about football, and the GF cares even less. I'd go for the "wow, cool building" side, but the club history would pass me by sadly.
 
That's a huge shame as football (Barcelona) is a huge part of the life of the people of Catalonia.

I would not have much else to add, besides wandering around looking at the building, visiting museums, eating nice food is all I would do besides taking in the football :p.
 
Barcelona was for me a great place to go with plenty of things to visit culturally speaking. For a lads weekend away I wouldn't recommend going and getting wasted, there are places better suited to it. I certainly had fun going out drinking in the evenings and in the middle of the summer being involved in some of the festival/parties in the back streets, with friends in the small hidden pubs/restaurants. Saw some really interesting to watch(while a little drunk) flamenco dancing though for the life of me I can't remember where in the hell in Barcelona it was. That was a particularly drunk evening for everyone.

But I really enjoyed visting all the Gaudi buildings/park/everything else, so much quirky weird stuff to see but a small enough city to see a lot of if in a short trip.

One of the things was we had a couple locals showing us around to the street party/festival and knew about quirky little bars down back streets. I can imagine sticking to the main stuff, particularly night life only on the main straights near the beach wouldn't be nearly as good. I enjoyed going to the nightclubs there but not as much as the rest of the trip.
 
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To be honest, neither of us are big nightlife people any more. We will do things in the day, but the evening will be about finding a nice restaurant and chilling with a meal. Were staying in Badelona, outside Barcelona, so will be restricted to how late we stay in the city by the trains anyway.
 
Coffee shop?

Massagee? Three Euro? Two Euro? One Euro?

What ever you do, under no circumstances take the coconut from the nice man on the beach.

I'd like to recommend a decent place to eat but we went to a few and none of them were really THAT great. More a case of bad luck though I think. The best meal we had (which was very nice) was one we bought in the Hostel St Christopher's Inn, it has a restaurant/bar arrangement separate from the hostel it's self. I wish I could remember the names of some of the places we went when there. You'll enjoy it :)
 
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If you get tired of the city, pop down to Sitges (about 30 mins or so from the main train station). It's a fantastic little town, great night-life. The train journey itself is fantastic.

The tour of Gaudi's house in Barcelona is fantastic, and there's a nice Picasso gallery down near the harbour. And the bus tours are pretty decent. Also, there's a high-speed train to Madrid if you feel like day-tripping it.
 
Went to Barca with a few friends last year, end of September. Nobody got robbed, even when 3 lads walked through las Ramblas at 3/4 am in an empty street. yes there were quite a few street ***** who eyed us, but if you use common sense, they won't come near you.

Park Guell may be worth a visit. Same as Mount Montserrat. Barcelonetta is where the 'party' is (there will be a lot of Indians etc. who try to seel deer and drugs. Say no [if you don't want] and walk away. As you stop, you find a 100 of their friends rushing towards you), along with nice restaurants and a lot of tourists in the day.

We didn't go to the Sagrada Familia, because when we went the queue was VERY long (it kept on going outside the venue, and made a full turn :D:D)

If you want shopping, go to Passag de Gracia. The 'end' of it (la Ramblas side) contains normal shops (H&M, Pull and bear etc.) but the higher you go you find designer stuff like Chanelle, D&G etc. All the buildings are VERY nice. Traditional buildings, all with the Catalonia flag on the side :D:D
 
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