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Barcelona, Spain

Disclaimer: These are just our reflections and thoughts from our personal experience based on our framework. There are generalisations and it was just a small snapshot. No offence is intended and no debate or comments sought.

The further north we have come the friendlier the locals are, and the willingness to communicate in English or at all. In fact they find it very amusing when we try our Spanish on them and they try their English back.

Cadaques is touristy in the sense that it survives very nicely from its European and local tourists. It is a little pricey in restaurants unless you go deeper into alleys and lanes or the supermarket. Thankfully it has no horrible apartments and without a doubt it is a pretty sea side village with the most crystal clear water. It was lovely to visit, but in itself would not give you an in depth Spanish cultural experience – just a nice Mediterranean seaside village one.

Nearby Figueres and Roses look interesting and appear to have more employment and the associated benefits. I must look up what the ruins in Roses are, as it appears quite significant with a walled section and perhaps a moat? It is very charming in Spain to see ruins of castles frequently on hill tops either in town or dotted around the countryside all with a story or two to tell of battles won and eventually most lost.

Barcelona whilst having pockets of interest felt just like another big city and one that was past its best days. It’s vibe is one of tough times with less happy residents than the north. There are lots of beggars and street people, it is not unusual to see people checking rubbish bins. Buskers guard their patches whether it be a subway tunnel, train or plaza. Ugly cheap to build dirty apartments dominate the streets and suburbs whilst prices are set to milk the tourist. This is one stop we think a whirl wind organised tour, hitting the key sites in 3 days would have been enough. Their metro is very good and cheap but maybe caution here as we were curious as to the prevalence of security with dogs day and night in addition to cameras everywhere.

More people speak English than in the south, but not as well or many as the north. Food options show more western influence with chips being a standard side accompanying a grilled meat main. Many tapas are fried battered or crumbed. The tapa bars have more montadillo style which is a topping on a slice of French stick, rather than interesting racion variety on a plate. The city was very busy with international tourists with a lot looking Russian or eastern block. More English and American accents heard about, especially drunk and noisy poms.

Seville, our introduction to Spain was a bit of a jolt or culture shock, yet now a couple of weeks down the track I would suggest it was the best place to go if you are looking for a more traditional Spanish experience. Of course Spain is pretty big and the different regions have their own unique histories; Barcelona being Catalan and NOT Spanish, perhaps with some Basque influences, Cadaques being so close to France is influenced by other cultures, and Seville is Andalusian with Moorish past.

Seville’s city layout is compact and they have maintained the old town nicely with a good mix of locals living there as they have for centuries. Everything to see is close and walkable. Prices are cheap compared to northern Spain, France and Netherlands. They seem to actively practice or maintain their culture in dress, lifestyle and some architecture. Whilst a city it is more like a village or collection of villages with people of all ages out and about interacting in the market places and plaza.

The down side, but perhaps that’s how they keep it clean as it were is that they generally aren’t welcoming to non locals. It’s “fit in with us or too bad” kind of thing. In hindsight if that stops homogenisation perhaps they have got it right? If you are prepared for this, then it would be an awesome experience. I wouldn’t go in summer though as apparently its really really hot.

The surrounding hill towns we saw briefly are a lovely day trip and I would recommend staying in Ronda overnight, perhaps seeing the ancient cave drawings nearby ( we didn’t know about these) and visiting the cave hill town. The valleys, views, ruins, flowers, white old buildings are romantic and refreshing. Prices for quality food and coffee were cheap at all the villages we went to.

The southern Spanish are very short, I mean they could have auditioned for hobbits and dwarves and Peter Jackson wouldn’t have had to do any editing. Seriously some were almost dwarfish, but not quite as solid. Most did not quite make my shoulder! There was the odd really tall one, over 6 ft, and a few around our height which were generally paler skinned, browner hair and hazel or the odd blue eyes.

Generally (note this is a generalisation, not everyone but the average public we saw) the Spanish are not very attractive nor do they try and present themselves at their best, evident by the lack of dress style, lack of colour, bling, makeup or nails, or hair colour. Perhaps this is due to a lack of money and a very tough economy. There is a harshness to both male and female as they maintain a serious almost scowl come frown expression not unlike the look you see on flamenco dancers faces or a matador ….

They are quite noisy and clangy in their meal times. When you order at a bar the waitress fair yells the numbers out, but in fairness she has to because at meal time there is a transformation. The silent scowls become animated and by the expressions on their faces they are sharing the woes and misfortunes that life has bestowed upon them. Seriously after one meal Vern’s ears were ringing and we were getting a little low at the lack of smiles after 5 days there.

In comparison to the Netherlands there seems a lot less or lack of pride in self, property and country. There is a lot more poverty generally. Modern buildings everywhere are grotty, graffiti is widespread and things are not as clean and much is in a state of disrepair or unkempt. The health of people is not as good and we saw a lot of mobility and dental issues that would have been attended to by our public health early on. Beggars and homeless would be as prevalent as what we saw in the USA, which I find gut wrenchingly disturbing.

Having said that it was an experience we will treasure and glad to have experienced it all authentically and would love to go back to Spain one day to see more.

I acknowledge the reflections come from living in a country where people are clearly a lot better off in many respects.

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