Travel to sanity

 Barcelona Spain

Where to begin!! What a Vibrant International Exciting City!! As you fly into the City you see this unusual type church like building that stands out over everything else!! You say to yourself and the person with you look at that what it that? Well, it is the LA Sagrada Família church designed by Antoni Gaudi. The Basílica de la Sagrada Família, also known as the Sagrada Família, is a large unfinished Roman Catholic minor basilica in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed by Spanish/Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, his work on the building is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction on Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, began nearly 150 years ago, and was never completed. ... However, according to The Verge, the iconic church will be finished by architect Jordi Fauli and his team in 2026. Why I begin here is because it was a stand out for me. A fabulous site to behold inside and out!! Something I have never seen before and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you go to while you are here. You WILL need tickets so the minute you get to the city or before purchase tickets or else you may miss this Wonder. It will take a few hours to go through at least two maybe three but I think two works for most people. You will not regret it.

Antoni Gaudi has a footprint all over Barcelona as you will see as you begin to explore this fascinating international city some I have listed below.

*Sagrada Familia

*Park Güell

*Casa Milà

*gAUDI’S aRT mUSEUM

*Casa Vicens Gaudí

mORE ON THE arTS

*pICASSO’S mUSEUM

*bARCELONA mUSEUM OF mODERN aRT

*Palau de la Música Catalana

hIGHLIGHTS TO SEE

La Rambla, Barcelona

La Rambla is a street in central Barcelona. A tree-lined pedestrian street, it stretches for 1.2 km connecting the Plaça de Catalunya in its center with the Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell. La Rambla forms the boundary between the quarters of the Barri Gòtic to the east and the El Raval to the west. La Rambla can be crowded, especially during the height of the tourist season. Its popularity with tourists has affected the character of the street, which has shifted in composition to pavement cafes and souvenir kiosks. It has also suffered from the attention of pickpockets. The Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the only street in the world which I wish would never end.

You will find many places to shop, eat and browse along this unique street. Many places to find Tapa’s which are very popular in Barcelona.

Barcelona is a city where eating all day is easy. The city streets are lined with large restaurant terraces and cafes. And their typical small plate style of eating is perfect for grazing all day. Many of Barcelona’s restaurants have nearly identical menus of pintos and tapas. This gives visitors plenty of opportunities to try Spanish cuisine as well as dishes that are unique to Barcelona.

One thing you will notice is the HAM that is everywhere!! It is a big part of the culture and is a delicacy. You really can’t go too many places without seeing HAM. You walk into a Restaurant and someone is carving very carefully and very thin slices of HAM. You walk in a Marketplace and the same thing HAM is everywhere. It is very good!! A must try in many forms. They make it with small sandwiches, dinner entrees, as appetizers, and plain to eat you will see when you get there. Something I had never seen before.

Jamón (Spanish pronunciation: [xaˈmon], pl. jamones) is a kind of dry-cured ham produced in Spain. ... Jamón is the Spanish word for ham. As such, other ham products produced or consumed in Spanish-speaking countries may also be called by this name. A good ibérico ham has regular flecks of intramuscular fat known as marbling.

This is a list of common tapas dishes. Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain, tapas have evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine. In Spain, patrons of tapas can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal.

What used to be a strategic site for the defense of Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War is now a natural viewing point that boasts 360º views of the city. Del Turó de la Rovira at the Bunkers del Carmel is a popular spot for locals to have a picnic with their friends. Bring your own drinks to this inviting view point and you’ll find that you will meet locals and other travelers. You can hike up to the bunkers after taking metro L4 to station ‘Alfons X’.

The Gothic Quarter is one of the most famous landmarks in Barcelona. Located in the heart of the old city, this Barcelona neighborhood features a fusion of buildings dating from Roman times to the 20th century. The beautiful neighborhood known as the Gothic Quarter is so called because it used to be the Roman village and thus has some remnants of its glorious past. ... The Gothic quarter has many peaceful squares (plaças) where you can relax and enjoy your surroundings.

Walk the streets of the Gothic Quarters and try all the Tapas throughout the area. Go in and out of the shops and take in all the sites of this enchanting part of Barcelona.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN BARCELONA

Being a Target for Pickpockets

Barcelona is famous for being one of the worst cities in Europe for pickpocketing, with other 600 pickpocket incidents per day. One of the reasons often cited for this is the relatively lenient sentence for pickpockets, amounting to no more than a fine if they steal less than €400. However, another factor is of course the number of tourists who visit Barcelona carrying large sums of money and valuables on their person. Walking around with your camera or travel cash is fine as long as you exercise a little caution and don’t make yourself easy prey. This only fuels the pickpocketing industry and encourages thieves to keep up their dirty work.

How to not become a victim

• Don’t keep your wallet in your back pocket

• Don’t carry anything of value (especially documents) in your backpack

• Careful putting cameras and phones on tables

• Keep a good grip on belongings and stay away from closing doors on the metro

• Don’t get sucked in to hugging people on the Rambla (I’m not joking!)

• Be careful when you stop to watch street artists

Beach Safety

• Carry only the bare minimum. Thieves are always on the prowl and even getting up to cool off in the water for a minute can cost you dearly.

• Don’t leave anything unattended. Barcelona pickpockets pick up their pace in the evening, operate in teams and study your behavior. Share a kiss, have a smoke, or go for a late night skinny dip and you’re screwed!

• Not to scare you, but I’ve known several people who’ve spent a whole day at the consulate trying to recover lost passports etc.

• Keep your eyes open and nothing will happen! Barcelona is no more dangerous than any other European metropolis.

If You’re Traveling By Car

One person who apparently while driving to Barcelona heard her tire pop, stopped, and was approached in a threatening manner by people on a motorbike. She escaped and was followed for some time before they pulled back. Even though they didn’t steal anything the intention was clear. P.S. I’ve heard changing a flat tire costs about € 350.

Another common scam in Spain (mostly on highways and other high velocity roads) is motorists feigning problems with their vehicle at the side of the road: prompting you to you stop, get out, and give a hand while one of their accomplices gets into your car and robs you. I certainly don’t wanna tell you not to help anybody (!) but please use discretion.

My Personal Experience with pickpocketing in Barcelona

My Husband and I went to Barcelona May 2019. I had been warned about the Petti Theft and Pickpockets. We arrived somewhat late and was tired we both fell asleep from jetlag and did not put our passport or anything in the safe that night, We woke up to catch breakfast in the hotel by 9:30 and just went to breakfast. I had most everything in my pocketbook, passports, credit cards, euros, cash, car keys, IPhone, prescription sunglasses. We didn’t feel we had to worry in our own Hotel since it was a fairly high end Hotel. Boy were we wrong!! Granted it was our fault we didn’t put everything in safe before breakfast but thought we would be safe for breakfast in our Hotel!! No we were not first morning in Barcelona in our Hotel at breakfast my pocketbook got stolen from off the back of my chair with me sitting there and my husband and I talking to each other and him looking at me ( the hotel staff told us from video seen later) did not feel a thing or see anyone near me and we were clearly in and open middle of restaurant seat. These pickpockets do this for a living. There are people looking at you remember all the time ready to take advantage of and opportunity to steal. This was a great way to start our vacation Blah.!! The first thing we did was went upstairs to room thinking I left it possible in room no did not then spoke with Hotel staff who then looked at video took there time though and wouldn’t let us see the video which I thought was strange and they told us a woman in Gab with her face covered basically was the person that stole it. I said look her up if she is staying in the hotel. She wasn’t staying in the Hotel she must have snuck in apparently. I truly think the Hotel was working with them maybe the wait staff not necessarily the management. The way the people reacted was very strange and that was the feeling we got. Anyway in the meantime my husband had his credit cards thank god or we wouldn’t of had any I was able to call and report to cards that they were stolen at that time nothing had been charged. Well it must have been during that time someone who stole the pocketbook went to a high end store across the street and charged a $2000.00 on a piece of jewelry. Thank god my credit card is covered for identity theft and eventually covered it (American Express). I then was worried about my IPhone I did not have my password on and was worried they could get information that could be used for identity theft. I worked with the hotel to call the Apple Store to find out how to deaden it this was after I used find my phone app. Eventually was able to make the phone dead basically to the thieves. Then our passports we walked to the consulate to find they were closed over the weekend. We had to wait until Monday to go and try to retrieve our passports or who knew what we had to do this had never happened to us before and we have traveled to many European countries before. We finally get to the consulate and this is a trip in itself. We go in and the place is packed with people doing the same thing!! Wow what and eye opener this was. We were in the waiting room and started to talk to others and what happen to them well from one having a car that ended up getting a flat tire from spikes people put on the road and then the thieves have yellow jackets that flagged them over to help and then went in there car and stole their backpacks and took off. These people were miles away and had to come into Barcelona for the consulate they stole everything of theirs. Another young man there with friends set his back pack down on a bar stool for a split second and it was gone with all his stuff. Another couple got her pocketbook stolen like me her husband said they were siting in a corner seat and they saw no one near there seat. Anyway you get the picture these were only a few from the crowded room we spoke with. It ended up costing us like $185.00 a piece for the temporary passports. One of the victims said to me this is like a scam (the pickpocketing) everyone in this city is making money off it. I felt he was absolutely right. We had gone to the Police Station the day before to put in a report for the stuff that was stolen they told us to come back later the next day and basically they couldn’t do anything anyway and it felt like this is a regular occurring thing that happens here all the time and it is and it is basically tolerated by the officials of the city So Beware!! So now it has been at least the third day before we got everything taken care of. This was a VERY STRESSFUL happening since it happened the first morning and made me especially upset and anxious. We finally went on with the rest of our trip and had a good time but unfortunately it put a bad taste in my mouth on the whole trip. I don’t want to turn you off from Barcelona It is a Beautiful City and you should definitely go I just want to Warn You from the moment you get off the plane hold or hide your belongings close to you. I will share one last thing with you we were out to dinner one night and the tables were close to one another and the couple next to us who we had spoken to and were locals when it was time for him to pay the bill he reaches inside his shirt and pulls out a plastic clear flat like pouch that he carries his credit cards in and euros. I was like is this what the people that live here have to do to stay safe apparently. When they say Barcelona is the worst city for pickpocketing in Europe Believe Them!! If you go get one of these pouches use it it works apparently. LoL