Scooters
In Barcelona, there are scooters everywhere. The dry climate lends itself to scooters as a safe way to get around town. Safe that is, if driven safely. Which in the hubbub of Barcelona doesn't happen. Most scooters weave in and out of traffic as if life was a game of Frogger. Trying to predict a scooter's next move is like trying to predict the movement of an electron. Pretty random man.
Space
Mind you if you're planning on living in Barcelona then you could well do with a scooter, because space in this place is at a minimum. Bounded by huge hills and the sea there are natural boundaries to this burgeoning city. And what can't spread out has to build up. You wont find a single house in Barcelona (slight over-exaggeration). Instead there's oodles of flats all built round squares so that a map of Barcelona is not dissimilar to a Go board. Usually each flat comes with it's own continental style banister overlooking the street which is of course ideal if you like spitting on the heads of bald men.
Having 2 million people packed into the space that rightfully belongs to only a quarter of that number means Barcelona's streets are choc-a-bloc with people and cars. During the day the pollution is disgusting and from a distance a permanent smog can be seen drifting over the Barcelona skyline. Barcelona is a great city to come to if you want to put the finishing touches to a malignant neoplasm. A final point to make is 'beware of zebra crossings' if motorists let you cross in Barcelona, it's their right, not your privilege.
Parks
This all goes to mean that anything resembling a park in Barcelona - and such entities are rare in Barcelona - is a treat. With all the pollution, parks are like oases.
Architecture
 So forget the pollution, the scooters and the fact that no-one speaks English. You've come for the architecture. And whether it's surreal melting masterpieces by Barcelona's favourite son Gaudi (see right) - or whoever else - every building has a lavish dollop of style. By and large, functionalism missed Barcelona - and where it does exist it's an eyesore that Barcelonians are keen to cover up. In Barcelona even the slums have a certain romance.
Catalan Nationalism
 Spain is a contentious issue in Spain. Especially in Barcelona - capital of Catalonia where most people (mainly the Catalans) will tell you that there's no such thing as the Spanish language. There's Castillian (which is Spanish to the Spanish) and there's Catalan, and Basque and some others too. In fact don't be surprised if you speak Spanish in some parts of Barcelona and they don't fully understand you. Catalan speakers cannot always speak Spanish well. In fact, if you want to get in the good books of a Barcelonian, a word or two in Catalan may go down well (providing they're not a Spanish nationalist).
Music
So art wise and architecturally, the Catalans may be streets ahead but musically Barcelona (like most of Europe) is miles behind. Tune in to the radio and you'll hear MC Pedro the funky Euro DJ shouting maxims such as Funky Bass in yer Face. The Phil Collins back catalogue and Catalan tribute bands dominate the airwaves. Eighties music is in. It is also compulsory for Hotel California to be played every second track in every bar in Barcelona.
Caveat To Everything That You Have Read
That's the great thing about travel writing. You spend a week in a place and come back having understood it all!
Date Article Put Online: December 2002
Date Article Written : December 1998
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