My wife reminded me about an incident that occurred on the beach of Barceloneta a few years ago. We were lying on the sand, catching the rays and people watching, when a man, escorted by a cop, dug up out of the sand many (perhaps eight) buried backpacks. The thief had obviously stolen and hidden the backpacks for retrieval, after the beach goers cleared out. We couldn’t see how the thief had marked the spots. Oddly, the cop let the thief go, instead of arresting him, after the exhumed backpacks were piled up on the sand.
First night in Barcelona! We checked in our apartment at 5pm and just walked around. I can see why it’s an amazing place. More reports to come, but one question, do we have to tip the waiters? If so what percent?
Am having lunch at Dacco Restaurant, right on top of the Les Rambles memorial.
Lots of People stop at the memorial mixed in with plenty of police. I think the Spanish and the world travelers are winning. No one had a fear with the isis.
I don’t think Spaniards tip. We would always leave a small tip.
Please keep reports coming. My son and his new wife will be heading to Barcelona and Majorca for their honeymoon in a few weeks. I’ll give him a synopsis of comments here.
Tipping isn’t a general practice but leaving 5-10% for exceptional service is definitely greatly appreciated.
Have an amazing time @artloversplus!
Yes, tipping isn’t expected either, but they are very appreciative if given. Another word of advice is not to use the in city Tax Free refund centers where they charge you a fee to get your money back. You still would have to wait on line at the airport to submit the receipt anyway, plus at the airport they do not charge you a fee.
Day three
After two days staying, I can safely say that Bracelona is a city for the tourists. There are probably more tourists than residents in the summer high season.
We bought two days HOHO bus tickets for 39Eu list each, with discounts, it came out 10% less. It is a good investment for the first timers self helping tourist like us. You need to see the city from the guided tours in the bus to decide where to go to the next few days. It’s an excellent suggestion fro CCers.
We are staying in the old town near the Picasso and the Chocolate museum it’s a little too far from some of the restaurant suggested here, but we will visit the one in Le Born. Here are few interesting observations I have:
- Do not pick a restaurant at random, do your homework, one Tapas restaurant maybe very different from the other. We learn our lesson hard way and will start reviewing comments on CC or yelp to PLAN for a meal.
- Do not assume the cost of Sangria is like water in Spain. We paid 25Eu for a pitcher of Sangria for lunch.
- Scooters are every where and you have to be very careful to avoid them, especially in the back alleys in the old town.
- I have never seen people eat under the huge tent in middle of the street. The city virtually blocked what might be a six lanes of an 8 lanes Avenue to have the restaurants set up tents for their patrons and it goes on by the miles.
- Lots of graffitied on the roll up doors in store fronts. I guess it is a culture differ from any where else.
- You need to online preorder your tickets fro a lot of tourists attractions such as Park Guell and Familia.
More to come tomorrow when we will not have the HOHo bus tickets any more.
We never had a problem with any of the tapas places we picked at random when we were there. We didn’t have a bad meal in Barcelona! We drank a lot of Spanish rose and again the bottles were cheap in restaurants compared to the US. We visited in late October so maybe some prices are higher now because it is summer.
How much city taxes we have to accumulate to start getting it back? The biggest amount should be the apartment bill. Not sure if we are paying that tax in a restaurant.
I found it strange that in Barcelona (and other parts of Spain) the waiters will bring bread and aioli to your table, without you asking for it. You eat it, of course, thinking that it’s complimentary. And then you discover a charge for the bread/aioli on the bill when it comes. And it wasn’t cheap - around 5 euros, as I recall. A scam but a delicious one.
Just think of it as a service or cover charge for the table, which it basically is. Considering one pays little to no tip, seems like a pretty good deal. “Scam” in this context is very specific to one’s culture. I’m sure visitors from other countries consider our expectation of a 20% tip a “scam”. 
Ha, maybe “scam” was a poor word choice. We still ate the bread/aioli and paid. No problem. As I said, it was delicious 
I’ve read lots of books on Barcelona* and tourism there, but I don’t recall ever seeing any reference to waiters bringing bread to the table without telling the customer that one must pay for it.
Anyone reading guide books about the US will find abundant references to our expectations regarding tipping. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to any tourist. The Spanish bread thing was, that’s all. No big deal. I just thought that it was an interesting anecdote on this CC thread.
- I highly recommend the art critic Robert Hughes' tome "Barcelona."
@artloversplus I believe the only tax refunds are from purchases from retail stores that you make over 90.16 Euros each visit. Dining and lodgings aren’t included. In Spain, little over 15% is refunded. Therefore, big price items such as brand clothing and bags would become quite a bargain, compared to buying in the US.
Just leave a couple of Euros as a tip; wait staff in Europe are paid a decent wage, so it’s not customary to leave the 15-20% as is done in the US.
If you want to eat like a local, don’t go before 9:30 PM at least!
Try the “White Sangria” made with Cava- it’s amazing!
Grafitti on the roll down store fronts is common in many EU countries. It does not denote a “sketchy neighborhood” like it can in US cities!
I’ve found that the easiest place to get the VAT refund is the airport. Collect your receipts in an envelope and get your forms filled out, wait in a short line and you’re done! BUT, do be aware that airport workers throughout Spain will likely be holding weekend or Friday “strikes” throughout the fall; keep an eye on the news because you can find yourself going nowhere fast when that happens!!
@artloversplus - thanks for updating us. I hope you continue to enjoy! Did you witness any street activity after Catalonia voted for their October 1 referendum on independence from Spain?
As noted above, you might want to google the VAT reimbursement requirements and procedures. I travel frequently, but am not much of a shopper. Since food and lodging are exempt from refunds, I rarely spend enough to get the VAT refunded. Exception has been when I’ve purchased an art object or jewelry and then the stores have made it very easy. I have also had goods shipped home and the stores took care of everything.
Regarding the restaurants. The first night we went to this wonderful tapas restaurant recommended by the apartment manager and we have been compairing it with the subsequent ones that was randomly selected. One of them we walked in had mostly fried tapas and Asian fusion touch which was not our style. DW in another restaurant decided to order Paella, thought it would be authentic in Spain, but it was a tasteless disappointment. We are used to the large kettle full of sea food offered in the Village in NYC.
No, I have not seen any protests on the street or elsewhere. Just about to visit la pedrera which is the second time we are here, did not get in the first time because its was late.
Thanks for every one’s update on tax refund, guess I won’t get any because we are not going to buy anything expensive.
An update on thief and pick pocket.
We were resting IN the Chocolate museum, DW decided to go to the restroom and left the back pack on the chair in front of me. I did not pay too much attention to it, in a few minute , when she returns it was gone! Fortunately there is not too much valuables but the replacement hat cost 40Eu :((
Another thing to watch out for is your cellphone. Here in the States, while in the restaurant, it would be very common for us to leave the cellphone on the table while we are eating. Apparently there are lots of cellphone thieves in Europe and will quickly snatch them away in the restaurant. We were warned many times by the wait staff to be careful with our phones.
Best FRee deal in Barcelona
Picasso museum free entry Thursday even 6-9:30, you need to book on line ahead. I did not know that until at the door, so will try it again next week. We live only 4 min from it anyway.