I came back from Barcelona last weekend a bit disappointed. The city is large, ….large….and full of tourists. If it wasn’t for the Sagrada de Familia, I could have been in Disneyland. Don’t get me wrong, it does have some nice barrios – Barrio Born and Gotic were my favourites – but over all -infiltrated with tourists in their holiday hats and backpacks. I did enjoy watching all the street acts though – Che Guevara was my fave , shockingly real.
Anyway, this extract from an FT article posted on Gridskipper, couldn’t have said it better:
A few hundred metres away, Las Ramblas is full to bursting point. Yet it’s empty of atmosphere. There’s nothing wrong with this tree-lined street with traffic either side, its centre given over to a fluctuating mass of pedestrians. If you like balloon-twisters, portrait-sketchers and living statues (a hooded monk; Christopher Columbus; a painter falling off his ladder) it’s a good place to come. But nothing unique or special has survived the tourist invasion.
Basically…go to Valencia instead 🙂
I share your views, street artist are great. Che Guevara is even mentioned in the Las Ramblas part of the free audioguide Barcelona (from http://www.iAudioguide.com ) is he there all the time?
Not sure. But I did notice that there are different artists everyday, and at different times aswell. I’m guessing he must visit on and off.
Che Guevara Resurrected in Spain?! Is he static? Does he just stand there staring into the void with a look on his face that echoes ‘Republica De Cuba!’?
Bounty: no he’s not static; he actually recites one of his talks aswell!The pic here is his finale!