La Rambla

La Rambla is most known and most visited street in center of Barcelona. It is surrounded with trees and it connects Placa de Catalunya with Port Vell on the coast. In the mornings the street is sleepy and quiet but at days and especially at evening it is loud and lively. Federico Garcia Lorca wrote that it is the only street in the world you wish it will never end 🙂 .

In its East side the street borders gothic quarter – Barri Gotic, this is worth seeing and getting lost in labyrinth of streets and squares. The square that we liked the most and where on Sundays there is flea market is Placa Reial, which is right by La Rambla. On flea market they sell everything, mostly as black market. It is interesting to see bunch of salesmen when police car drives by. In just a moment the square is almost empty, a few seconds before that you can see total chaos and when we experienced it the first time, we were a little scared, because we didn´t know what was going on.

The easiest way to move around Barcelona is by foot or by underground train (metro). It is good to experience both. But be aware! Nevertheless we liked Barcelona we would never live there, because there is a lot of criminal activity and many pocket thieves walk around. You should really pay attention at metro and on La Rambla itself. Actually everywhere, but especially on those two places.

What was my experience with pocket thieves like? We entered metro on north side of La Rambla as we intended to go to coastal Barcelonetta. No one was there – that´s what I first noticed and I said to myself that I don´t even have to take my bag of my shoulders. As I walked around passages of metro, I suddenly felt something very gentle. I remember thinking at that time that it was like a butterfly sitting on my shoulder. Luckily I am very sensitive and I feel almost everything immediately (which isn´t easy most of the time – but was good at that time). I turned around and at first moment I didn´t notice anybody. And then I saw a nice middle age lady from upper class that walked a few meters besides me. Then I took a look at my bag, it was entirely open, but luckily nothing was missing. When I turned around, the woman was already gone. Phew. At first moment I didn´t understand. She was nothing like thieves I would imagine. And I still don´t understand how she managed to open my bag so quickly and quietly.

Even if she would succeed to rob me, it wouldn´t be such a problem. OK, I would have lost some money. Important documents we never carry around in our bags, because most of the time they are under the clothes of my stronger half. Beside that we always take a photo of our documents and a member of a family has copies of them in Slovenia as well.

Those are not experiences that would turn us off traveling. Those are experiences that make us rich and sharpen us for life here and now.

The world is still wonderfully beautiful and safe. That I know for sure.