photo festival

I hate to be the anti-chamber-of-commerce or rain-on-parades-generally guy, but watch out for pickpockets in Barcelona.

In September of last year (in Barcelona after Perpignan) I personally witnessed three successful pickpocket or purse snatches in a three-hour period (one was on me in a very tony neighborhood). To add insult to injury there was then a second effort on me across the street from the cathedral.

Barcelona is beautiful and hugely interesting, and I would go again. But I gotta tell you, I was just f# amazed what I saw in that regard. After my own loss, I looked in several trash cans around where I was hit in an effort to find what I hoped was my wallet, discarded, empty of Euros, but with the credit cards. What I saw to my amazement was several perfectly good purses in the trash bins that lacked wallets. I just don’t think they were there voluntarily.

I’ve been to some pretty crummy places in this world, but I have never seen anything like I did there. I went to the police to report my own crime (since I got a good look at my perpetrator) and the line of other victims was out the door into the street. I went to a fancy hotel to meet someone and found that they gave their guests a one-page single-spaced set of warnings about street criminals.

So if you go to Barcelona take extreme measures to protect your money, credit cards and other belongings if you are on the street (which you will want to be).

Sorry to hear Neal.
Plenty of that action on many of the ‘gaping in awe at the damn prettiness of it all’ visitors. You, unfortunately just need to have your wits about and take sensible precautions, and then all is superb. Its a shame BCN gets tarred with this brush so much, but anyway.

Hey Rafael you may want to fix that link and stick Barca in the subject matter line as I nearly missed this. Looking forward to it and hopefully bump into yourself of the duration. Best of luck with it all

Sorry too, Neal. Barcelona is not easy at all. it´s a city lo learn to survive in many ways but it ´s a place who offer many things, more than a pickpocket. And this festival it´s one of them.
Con, i hope to see u there!!