@TatinG - I don’t necessarily agree with your assessment. Granted, we were in Barcelona only for three days, but we never were anywhere near Las Ramblas.
I am not sure where TatinG got her casualty number. BBC and Cnn are reporting 1 dead and 32 injured.
It is easy to avoid the area if you wish. There are many side streets you can go down if you need to cross that district.
edited: I stand corrected. BBC just updated the news to 13 dead. Sorry for the confusion.
former co-worker is there right now. She is reporting 10 dead. 2 men arrested. We only went to the Ramblas once in 12 days and it was specifically to walk there. I would have been fine if we’d missed it all together. I personally think vrbo and air bnb are fine. Perhaps some regulations limited supply would be a good step. I think in cities like Barcelona and Venice that the worst offenders are off of cruise ships.
They keep updating–13 dead and at least 50 injured. Think at least one gunman dead. And one in custody.
My daughter loved Las Ramblas. I ran out of time to go there.
The Catalan people are strong, they will beef up their security.
Oh, those poor poor people and the suffering their families will endure. I can’t even imagine.
It isn’t hard to avoid Las Ramblas but it is a popular place. Last summer, we stayed just down the street from the La Sagrada Familia and had to take public transport to La Rambla. We spent a whole day there shopping and watching a Flamenco show. It was very crowded and so festive. Its just sad.
A new report says 12 confirmed dead. I hope that we can expect a small miracle of one extra person surviving this.
I don’t see any point in avoiding an area because of the risk of a terrorist attack. We were in Italy this summer and went anywhere we wanted to go (imho, the risk of regular crime is far greater in a big city with tourists). However, Italy had armed soldiers and cement barricades at the entrances to many of the large tourist sites in Rome.
There’s no way to stop this sort of terrorist attack once it’s in motion. They have to be stopped at the source, in the planning stage. For example, the soldiers and barricades at Piazza Navona only stop someone from driving into the square itself. There was nothing stopping them from driving over the crowds lining the streets outside the square. Same goes for Charlottesville (I don’t recall reading anything about whether that was planned in advance or not).
I just wanted to reach out to @artloversplus as our family just returned last night from Barcelona. The terrorist incident occurred 24 hours before our arrival via train from France. We did have a family discussion about switching locations and even reached out to our hotel about the possibility of getting a refund for our 5 night stay because we had some anxiety about security issues as the terrorists were still being pursued as were traveled to Barcelona. I noticed a big increase in armed police on train platforms from Pepignan France to Barcelona which was probably due to the search for some of the terrorists.
Barcelona itself felt like it was operating normally. I visited Las Rambles 3 of the 5 days and it was very crowded both day and night with residents and tourists either visiting the memorials placed along it, shopping at the small retail establishments that lined both sides or people eating at tables set up on the pedestrian pathway. People weren’t scared, but more defiant about not letting this terrible attack affect them.
On one evening, I witnessed a man I must presume to be Muslim on the Las Rambles. He was standing in the center of a large ring of people, easily numbering over 100. One by one, I watched individuals come into the center and give him a hug. It was very emotionally moving to observe. I lingered until it was dark and then walked a half mile to the Metro. I never felt unsafe, but was more keenly aware of my personal space because of the higher potential for purse snatching in that area.
I had originally planned to vacation in London and changed flights after the recent terrorist incident. While Barcelona is great place to visit, I wish we hadn’t changed our plans from my first choice of London as I now realize how quickly a sense of normalcy returns and fear can’t rule the lives the residents and tourists alike. I hope you keep your plans and enjoy Barcelona as I did.
Thank you so much @wheatonmom
With your report, I think I can be at ease with my family. At a moment, we have frantically trying to cancel the trip, especially with the airlines, but was unable to do so. DW, as of last night, is still talking about finding a different place in Europe to visit after arrival because the hotel reservation is cancellable until 8/30. We are concerned because it is near Las Rambles.
We should not surrender to terrorists, if we do, so the world will be taken over by them. Based on your report, I can see the people in Spain have a strong mind to live against adversity and will succeed in this fight against the terrorism.
Honestly, I think the safest places to be are often those who have just had an attack. This could honestly happen anywhere.
Some cities though have been subject to repeated terrorist attacks. London and Paris spring to mind. I wouldn’t go to Istanbul right now, either.
I missed both earlier periods of activity on this thread, so I’ll jump in late with some suggestions, I spent an academic year in Barcelona when I was in high school, in the early '70s, and last visited there six years ago. It is one of my favorite cities anywhere. My wife wants to move there, and she doesn’t speak Spanish or Catalan. (I speak Spanish pretty well, and can get by in Catalan.)
- Architecture. Don't just focus on Gaudi. He's great, but he was part of a movement that spawned other great architects, too. Two of the most interesting modernist buildings in Barcelona are the Palau de la Musica Catalana (in the central area near the Placa de Catalunya) and the Hospital de Sant Jordi i Sant Pau, which is half a mile north of Sagrada Familia. Both of them were designed by Gaudi's contemporary, Lluis Domenech i Montaner, and they are well worth visiting.
It’s great just walking around the Eixample, the neighborhood reflecting Barcelona’s exponential expansion during the late 19th Century and early 20th.
I also really like the Richard Meier Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA). And there are wonderful Roman ruins and a ton of Gothic architecture, not merely in the Barri Gotic, but in the Raval, to the west of Las Ramblas, behind the Boqueria market.
- Art. By all means, go to the Miro museum, as others have recommended. The Picasso museum is almost skippable -- it's mostly juvenalia and second-rate stuff, until you get to the last room which has a whole set of variations on Velasquez's Las Meninas that Picasso painted just for this museum. That, plus the architectural interest of the museum -- it's constructed from three adjacent houses originally built in three different centuries -- make it barely worth the price of admission. There are plenty of other interesting museums, too. But the one you are most likely to miss, and shouldn't, is the Fundacio Antoni Tapies. Tapies was the greatest Spanish artist of the generation that followed Picasso and Miro. He's not that well known here, and he had a long, interesting career. The museum is in a Domenech i Montaner building, but not a super-interesting one (it was originally a factory).
- Spanish/Catalan/English. Spanish and Catalan are indeed different languages, and Catalan is the older of the two. Castillian Spanish developed out of Portuguese in the western Iberian Peninsula and Catalan in the east. Native Spanish speakers tend to have a hard time with Catalan, because it has a number of sounds not present in Spanish, and there is some true vocabulary difference, but mostly they are pretty similar. Catalan was officially suppressed during the Franco regime, but it is now the official language of the northeastern coastal area of Spain, as far down as Valencia, and the Balearic Islands.
Interestingly enough, there is more Spanish spoken in Barcelona now than there was 40 years ago. Barcelona has so many immigrants from Latin America and from southern Spain that Spanish is ubiquitous in shops and on the street, where I never heard it before. In the early 70s, you heard Spanish on TV, from manual laborers at construction sites, and gypsy beggars. Everyone else spoke Catalan, although they knew Spanish. Now, all the official signs are in Catalan, and there’s a Catalan TV station, but all of the ads are in Spanish.
There is English everywhere in Barcelona. On signs, and lots of English speakers.
Out in the countryside beyond Barcelona, there’s a lot more Catalan and a lot less Spanish and English.
- Barcelona is the rare large city that has a nice beach right in the middle of the city, easily accessible by public transportation, in Barceloneta. Definitely worth checking out in the warm months. And that neighborhood was extensively redeveloped when they had the Olympics in Barcelona. It used to be seedy and tough, now it's a model of urbanism.
- Barcelona's metro system is easy to use, as are its buses. And distances are rarely so great in the parts of the city that are interesting to tourists that they are not walkable.
Terrorists can attack anywhere at any time. Staying home or changing your itinerary is no guarantee of safety. Enjoy your trip and don’t let fear rob you of your joy (said as a person with many phobias who has to remind herself of this daily).
“Barcelona is the rare large city that has a nice beach right in the middle of the city,”
And it’s beautiful with bars and food to boot. It was so much fun in such a relaxing way…my regret is I couldn’t stay longer.
I’m going back.
@JHS I don’t know where you got your info regarding #3 but you are mistaken. Spanish and Catalan evolved both from Latin. Spanish did not come from Portuguese.
I can’t let a Barcelona thread go by without a passing mention of Quimet y Quimet, the most fantastic tapas bar on the planet. Go there.
Quimet y Quimet is a tiny little hole in the wall that specializes in tapas with conservas, foods that are canned, jarred, smoked, pickled or preserved in some other way. Every tapa is a melange of unexpected deliciousnesses: smoked salmon with yogurt and truffle honey, for example. Really, this place is unbelievably fantastic and you should go there.
Has anyone been to Andorra? It is pretty close by. Whats like over there?
Buy bottled water in Barcelona- the tap stuff won’t kill you but the locals don’t drink it. It’s cheapest in the little local markets you’ll find almost everywhere. Take the Metro to get around (buy multi-day tickets); it’s fast and the station maps/color lines will help you. There is a lot of petty crime in some areas of the city where tourists congregate and also on the Metro; groups of gypsies will target a person, gather around him/her and lift their wallet out of their pocket or backpack. Their MO is to take the cash from it and then ditch the wallet in the nearest trash can- the money is the primary aim. You’ll be fine speaking Spanish but be aware that some of the best tapas places don’t have regular menus and won’t be found online either- you’ll find the daily items written in Catalan on blackboards on the wall. Smile and point to what you want! Expect to have dinner starting at 10PM and lunch not before 2. Order the set-menu meals for lunch; they’re the best value and sit and enjoy the afternoon.
Be sure to see La Boqueria- the public market that’s been there since the 13th century. It’s a great place to grab breakfast or lunch too! Walk from there down La Rambla to The Liceu, the world famous opera house- their gift shop is great and there may be performances you can get tickets for while you’re there. While it’s quite safe to walk from the market down as far as the opera house, any farther can lead you into a district you don’t want to be in after dark.
There are some handy Catalan translation Apps for your phone which can be very helpful (and can be used off-line!).
I’ve spent a lot of time in Catalunya as my wife is from there so if anyone has specific questions, feel free to PM me!