Las Ramblas: Rules for the Strip

I love it when people come to visit me, because I get to see this city through fresh eyes. After four years in a place you forget what surprised you once, and get stuck in your ways. At least I have.

My friend came to the city, and like some other visitors before him, was completely uninterested in seeing the sight. ‘Next time I’ll see the Sagrada Familia, ‘ he said, ‘This time I just want to chill and take it in.’

What he meant by chilling was staying on Las Ramblas and within four blocks of it for his entire week stay. Unless I forced him to come visit me in my neighborhood, he was on the Ramblas or very near it. It is not that I hate Las Ramblas, but more that I avoid it much like I avoid the bank here. If I don’t have to, I am going no where neat the Ramblas and no where near the Caixa Bank because these two places frustrate me.

Like the bank, it is impossible to move quickly on Las Ramblas…it’s jammed with people and takes time to navigate. If you’ve got all day and a lot of patience, sure, by all means, wander the Ramblas and try to make a transaction at the local bank, otherwise, stay clear.

Also, Las Ramblas are a tourist trap. It is almost like Barcelona has nothing else to offer sweet tourists than this strip of pavement and the Sagrada Familia. Branch out I say! Plus, Las Ramblas are dangerous in a sense, in that it is teaming with tourist and therefore teaming with pickpockets. The whole thing stresses me out.

I told my friend my Barcelona rules when he arrived. It’s simple:

1) Do not stay on Las Ramblas (he did)

2) Do not eat on Las Ramblas (he did except when he went to an Irish Bar on Pl St Juame)

3) Do not drink at Irish Bars…they are not Spanish. They are not Catalan. You are in Spain….(his favorite bar was Ryans!)

4) Do not take things of value to the beach (his bag was stolen there, and all his credit cards by day 3)

5) Do not swim in the Med off of Barcelona’s beaches (he swam every afternoon…….)

6) Do not take Ryan Air if you can help it, because you will be on the bus or train for hours before your flight is scheduled to leave…it’s a rip. Spend more and fly from BCN Airport (he got on the bus at 3am to get Ryan Air at 6am to save €20 – not worth it)

Las Ramblas

So fine! I offer my advice but what can I do if I am ignored? He loved Las Ramblas and indeed many others do as well. Two things you can be sure of though: 1) no local is going to spend any more time than he needs to on Las Ramblas (unless he works there) and 2) You will pay double if not triple for all products on this strip of pavement that stretches form Plz. Cataluña to the sea.

As my friend caught his bus at 3am he was happy, though he had been robbed and had not seen one Gaudí monument nor tasted one slice of traditionalpan con tomate. In the end, it’s best to travel in a way that makes you happy, and if that means spending 7 days on the Ramblas, well then so be it.