The city, the life and the people. My recent article about pickpockets on Expatica.com produced the following comment from Marc: Yes, nice observation and I am afraid that you might not be too far off about the "conspiracy" angle. I have been her 6 years, and work and also play music every weekend in the center of Barcelona. I know many business owners here, and the common belief is that yes, city officials and the police are paid off by the "mafias" who control the street criminals to let those crimes occur. They are also paid off to let beer sellers sell their beers and paid-off to let the prostitutes on Las Ramblas, most of whom are just pick-pockets disguised as prostitutes to pick pockets and steal purses. When the "heat" gets too high, city officials call in the friends in the media to play a game of smoke and mirrors with the public, such as the last few weeks of daily articles in La Vanguardia placing most of the blame on the tourist! People wake up: Yes, maybe Madrid is keeping to0 much of your tax money. But your own Catalan politicians have stolen your city and have given it to the mafias. The snake that eats it tail... Then there was this from Tom: I have just returned from one of my regular trips to BCN staying at a friend's flat off Las Ramblas. Walking home by myself down Las Ramblas (sober) at 1am on Friday night I...

Hotels in Barcelona are concerned that bad press and the gradual decline in quality on the city’s streets will have a economic effect on their trade. The feeling of insecurity has risen over the last few months, especially around Placa de Catalunya and the Rambla with its side streets, and the problems seem to get worse every day. These areas usually generate large amounts of income, due to it’s being one of the most famous streets in the world, income that is reinvested in the city. Sadly it now has become a source inconvenience and problems. Now hoteliers fear that growing insecurity, especially at what will soon be the peak holiday season, will erode the fine reputation that Barcelona has. Robberies, beatings and the continued harassment from prostitutes are an unwelcome reminders that tourist do not forget. A hotel manager said “It is not only robberies but some of our customers have been mugged or beaten, the police have increased their presence but the problems continue to increase. The Rambla should be the best of Barcelona but today it is the worst, thefts destroy holidays and we also are concerned that small hotels, that cater for families, will suffer because of the failing reputation of the city and may not recover. Anna Miquel, Le Meridian’s public relations manager said "There are problems, we must put them right now. I would like the Rambla again be what it was many years ago." In addition, those responsible for Ciutat Vella hotels near...

As I mentioned in my previous post , the dealings between the thieves, bars, and police is a scandal ripe to be unearthed by some enterprising journalist looking to expose the odious symbiotic relationship between the three. But, until that happens and we start claiming the streets back from the scum who prey on the innocent people visiting our city, you need to know how to avoid them. My friends at At Home: Barcelona have some useful advice , but I also want to take a minute to offer some suggestions on how not to get robbed, while also seeing some parts of the city and its surroundings that you probably wouldn't have otherwise. The thing to remember about predators is that they go to where the easy prey is. This means - if you wanna go for a swim - don't go to Barceloneta and Port Olimpic, unless you have someone watching your things at ALL times. However, if you hop on the train at Plaza Catalunya and take it north for half an hour to las playas del Maresme , you can find wider and more spacious beaches like Cabrera del Mar where the pickpockets generally don't go but the locals do, so you can enjoy and relax in the sun and cleaner water, while eating and drinking at the cheaper chiringuitos . If the city-center is your thing, walk above Plaza Catalunya and the scam artists to Rambla Catalunya, escaping the heat and the thieves while you...

Not as famous as the Barrio Gotico with its labyrinth of tiny alleys and Gothic Cathedral - but for my money - no neighborhood is better to get lost in than Eixample to fully appreciate the beauty of Barcelona. The largest of the city's many distinct barrios, its wide streets are lined with buildings that seem more works of art than places to live or work. The most famous of these are the ones built by Gaudi located on Passeig de Gracia , but take a moment to wander off the main streets and escape the crowds, and you'll enter a world of carved stone trees and a couple tenderly looking into each other's eyes. Note: A residential neighborhood, its also probably the only place in Barcelona without a bar or restaurant every second door, so make sure to eat before hand.

An article in today's New York Times takes a look at Spain's depressing economic state of rising unemployment and falling consumer prices as it relates to the global market. The whole article is well-worth a read, but these two paragraphs in particular, I think, catch the current situation and what lies ahead for the future. The trends have unnerved even well-established businesses. “There is such a huge lack of confidence in the politicians, in the European Union and in the banks,” said Arturo Virosque, 79, president of Valencia’s chamber of commerce and the owner of a local logistics company. Ticking off crises going back to the Spanish Civil War in his youth, he said, “this is different. It’s like an illness.” After price cuts by competitors, Mr. Virosque’s company reduced charges for storage and transportation, and slashed its work force to about 170, from 250. “The worst thing is that we have to cut the young people,” he said, because higher severance makes it too expensive to fire older workers. And the cure? When Spain had its own currency, the peseta, the central bank could have simply devalued it, or cut interest rates to zero. But that is not an option in the era of the euro, when monetary policy is controlled from the European Central Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, said Santiago Carbó, a professor of economics at the University of Granada.“If we enter into a deflationary period, we won’t have the monetary tools to sort it out,” Mr. Carbó...