Barcelona is not the same

Don’t bother going in the summer; it’s honestly not worth it unless you like tourist traps.

at the time of this photo, taken in 2012, this was the single fruit juice stall. now, there are a dozen of them, if not more. photo credit wikimedia commons

Recently on the news I have been seeing reports of locals in Barcelona protesting against the tourists. There have been reports of foreigners sitting in restaurant patios eating or drinking, and activists coming up to squirt them with water bottles while chanting “tourists go home!” It’s not just activists responding. The laws are changing around access for tourists as well, as the AirBNB era will be coming to a close. Tourist licenses for short term rentals are no longer being given out, and those currently with a license will not be able to renew their 5 year term.  

Undeterred, we went to Barcelona this week, to celebrate our 20 year anniversary (we were married in Barcelona). We decided on just a day trip from our home in a small town in Lleida province. We have recently moved back to Spain, after living in Barcelona back in the early 2000s. When I lived there, sure it was metropolitan: seven or eight languages could be heard walking a single city block, and there were definitely Americans and Brits teaching English. That’s what I was doing, too, after all. 

But just 20 years ago, the city was still a Spanish and, more importantly, very Catalan, city. There were tourists but it was not overrun. For example: Mercado La Boqueria on Las Ramblas was where we went for our fruits and vegetables, (and our eggs and many other things) when we lived in El Raval before it was trendy. La Boqueria was our local farmers market. It had quality produce for really great prices. 

Well, we went to the Boqueria again yesterday, in search of early figs. What we found instead of produce was stall after stall selling fruit juice and smoothie concoctions, premade sandwiches, and more “para llevar.” Every touristy thing to eat or drink while walking around, that’s what the stalls were filled with now. Our date vendor? Gone. I have fond memories of mountains of dates, still on their stems, from a specific vendor. It was amazing. But it’s gone. The egg vendor? Also gone. No more eggs so fresh you’d encounter tiny feathers here and there. Most of the fish stalls in the center and cured meat stalls along the right side seem to have survived but the produce? Practically disappeared. It was so disheartening, and it was such a visually shocking example of what protestors mean when they say their city has been overrun by tourists. The food market, of all places, is no longer for the neighbors.

I also noticed that more often than not, people expected local workers to speak English. When we lived there, if you weren’t from Barcelona, you still tried to speak the language, with at-first faltering Spanish apologizing for not knowing Catalan yet. But I saw group after group just speak in English, no hesitation, no apologies, not even trying to start with a simple greeting in Spanish–like their language was the only language they needed. They couldn’t even be bothered to say hola, or bon dia.

I saw a group of guys walk into a small adorable bookstore, annoyed when there weren’t books in English about Spanish philosophy. Like they expected a small shop in Catalonia to be full of books in English. 

It’s not just the amount of tourists, it’s that the local places are being changed to cater to them (no fault to the business owners, you have to do what pays the bills), because all these tourists are flooding in with no apologies, just expecting said catering. 

Barcelona used to be my favorite city in the world. Now, after just one day in the center of the city, I understand the frustration of the locals. It’s been ruined. 

Yes, I said it: Barcelona has been ruined by tourists.

Of course, I don’t think outsiders should be kept out, but I do think that the balance is way past off kilter. Fewer tourists would be, in fact, better. Those who do come need to enter with respect and humility—and a little Spanish and Catalan language learning—before they come. They should be here to experience a Catalan city in Spain, not a holiday playground for English speakers. 

I sure do sound like a “back in my day” old lady, squawking about change being bad but sometimes? Sometimes change really is bad.

I am not anti-landlord, by any means. I am not even anti-short-term-rental-landord. But Barcelona is a good example of too many of those short term rentals, unchecked and uncontrolled, not being good for a community. I, for one, hope this first step of ending tourist licenses for landlords will help move the rebalance into the right direction.

Will I be joining the chants for “tourists, go home” next week? No, definitely not. But I might start my own little chant.

“Tourists, where is your respect?”