Barcelona in general > Reviews > an amazing city

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money
Sightseeing
Shopping
Nightlife
Ease of getting around

Advantages:	ooh .  .  .  far too many
Disadvantages:	the usual .  .  .  don't forget to keep watching out for your wallet etc .  .  .  tourists are so vulnerable

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I went to Barcelona last June, expecting it to be hot, touristy, and really not my kind of city. But I was pleasantly surprised. Although it was hot almost the whole time we were there, it wasn't unbearable, and made a nice change from the weather we have here in the UK.
We stayed in a 3 star hotel, close to one of the metro stops, which was great for getting to the centre of the city. The hotel itself was okay, the rooms were fairly big and the food wasn't too bad either. Saying that, as a vegetarian it got very boring after a while; I lived on chips and salad for a week which isn't ideal. And it was much worse trying to find food without meat or fish in it out in the big city - I went for 24 hours once without eating (it's a very long story...) because I couldn't find any veggie food. But if you eat meat it's fine :o)

Anyway... the city itself is quite big, but the metro thing makes it so easy to find your way around. We also went on a bus tour 'Bus Turistic' which gave you a choice of 2 routes, one up to the north of the city and one down to the south, which runs along the coast most of the way. I'm sure both tours are worth going on, but we only had time for one. They take you past most of the interesting sights.
Sagrada Familia, one of the cathedrals, is a really spectacular building, and well worth a visit. It was built by Gaudi, who was a very busy bloke in Barcelona. You can climb up millions of steps (at least that's what it seemed like) to get to the top of one or other of the towers, and once you're up there you have *the* most amazing view of Barcelona. Getting up there however is pain, but again it really is worth it. From the top you can see the whole city I think... it's wonderful.
Gaudi was also responsible for the bizarre but very cool Park Guell, which was just round the corner (kind of) from our hotel.
Our tour took us past various places of interest, including the Futbol Club Barcelona and some of the popular shopping streets.
One of which is worth a mention... La Rambla. Possibly the most weird shopping street I've been to (although I have to admit I haven't been out of the UK much...) - it had loads of shops/restaurants/museums and a market selling all kinds of animals. But as a tourist I recommend you keep a very close watch over your belongings - a friend of mine had her wallet stolen while we were walking down La Rambla and that was such a scary thing - having to report something stolen in a foreign country where we didn't speak the language well and we didn't know the system. So hang on tight to your money.

The people were in general friendly. I'd heard before I went that they were really welcoming to tourists but I didn't find that to be the case all the time, particularly in cafes, but that might just have been cos I was being awkward and trying to order vegetarian food. But I was there on a jazz band tour and we had several concerts in and around Barcelona, and the people in the audiences were so friendly and interested in what we were doing.

All in all, definitely worth visiting - I feel like I only saw a very small part of the city during my short stay there and I'd love to go back sometime.