Barcelona in 2016

Dirty, tasty, angry town with a stadium and a beach

A quick visit to Barcelona in August left me with an unease. Spain is really in trouble. The city is dirty, run down, people angry and lots of little things don’t work.

Even at Camp Nou, the stadium of FC Barcelona and by far the most exciting place in the city, the replay screens don’t work all the time.

Sometimes the obvious is what really happens. When a country is bankrupt, then public spending goes down and people start to hoard. Instead of investing in public infrastructure, Barcelonians are hoarding cash and probably building up assets in Switzerland. The most exciting news story in August was a backlash against Airbnb. Instead of letting people make money with their apartments, the major of Barcelona is protecting the hotel industry, which is hopelessly overpriced, delivers bad service and has no business competing in the global market for tourism.

But lets not be so harsh. There are some good sides of Barcelona. The beach and the soccer.

The beach

There is a muscle up installation right on the beach playa the Barcelona. It has amazing energy and for anybody who loves work outs it’s a must. There are cool people, great music and most important, great energy. The beach is nothing to speak off, but the work out is absolutely great.

After exercising go to one of the tapas places between the beach and the harbor and enjoy the local scene. Just stay away from the main streets and the W and Ritz Carlton, which are hopelessly overpriced and full of weird looking people.

The Soccer

Soccer or football is for Barcelona what American Football is for Greenbay or Denver. It’s the main event. It’s why people go there. It’s what people associate the city with . Go catch a game at night and then after the game go downtown and crab a beer and some tapas. It’s a great experience.

El Born

For those interested in discovering little streets of a European city, stay away from La Rambla and any of the other famous tourist places. They are dirty and full of junk.

But El Born is worth it. It’s a bit off, kind of like Tribeca used to be before Wall Street discovered it. The restaurants are quality and you will find great ice cream, bakeries and even some interesting clothing.

If you want to go to Spain go to Madrid or San Sebastian. Forget Barcelona. But if you have to go there, stick to soccer and the beach and then go for dinner around El Born.