We are in Barcelona for two days. On day on Kevin, Shannon, Elias and Fiona went to the beach. Brian and Liam stayed on the ship. The pace of their travel around the world caught up with them. Suzi, Liz and I went for a walk.
We took the bus to the World Trade Center and then a stroll past the waterfront and Columbus monument (Columbus still seems to be celebrated here) down the las Ramblas, a series of streets that connect to one another and run through old Barcelona. They have a wide pedestrian mall down the middle with traffic on the sides. Las Ramblas is Barcelona’s living room with street entertainers, cafes and at this time of year, lots of tourists.
We took a detour to the left to see Gaudi’s Palu Guell, built for the industrialist. It is called a townhouse but it looks like a 19 or early 20th century office building, with, of course, unique Gaudi touches. The neighborhood around the building has Gaudi themed shops and the Hotel Gaudi with a fountain decorated with broken tile in the style of Gaudi but not by the master himself.
From there we crossed las Ramblas and dove into the Barri Gothic, the Gothic quarter of winding streets and lanes that used to be within Barcelona’s walls. The main Gothic building is the Cathedral, started in 1298 after Barcelona was reconquered by the house of Aragon for the Catholic faith and was completed in 1448. Its façade is Neo Gothic, completed in 1913. People thought the original façade was not distinguished enough. The Gothic Quarter is not really Gothic, although there are a few gothic buildings other than the cathedral remaining. When the city walls came down in the mid-19th century, much of the area was a slum. Now many of the buildings are from the late 19th century, new builds to replace substandard medieval buildings. The quarter was “refurbished” as a tourist center for a 1929 world’s fair. Even though not authentically gothic the quarter sits in contrast to the regular blocks of the newer city outside the walls which I described in an earlier post. It is delightful to walk through.
The Gothic Barri is the home to many civic buildings housing Catalonian government offices. It also has a lot of short term rentals, like Air B&Bs. But as you walk through the quarter from the cathedral toward the sea you see more shuttered businesses covered with graffiti. I had the feeling that this area might be ripe for gentrification driven by short term rentals. The buildings are classic and the location good for visitors. But development in the area is shifting. Currently Barcelona has more than 10,000 air B&B and other short term rental units that have displaced local housing. This has caused a great deal of resentment among residents who find it difficult to find a flat. Barcelona has said it will not renew short term rental permissions, hoping to eliminate most short term rentals by the end of 2028. They have also put a limit on the number of new hotels that can be built with a “one our one in” policy. If you want to convert a building to a hotel you have to buy out an older hotel. The hope is that this will free up more buildings for residential housing and ease the housing shortage. These new rules have shifted the emphasis on the redevelopment of the run down sections of Barri Gothic and possibly slowed it because there is more money in tourism than other sectors and that money is needed because of the added cost of upgrading buildings while following the constraints of being in an historic district. Some experts think that some of the buildings may be converted to medium term housing for digital nomads moving to Spain, which would not help the local housing situation. But the trend to buy up property for short term rentals and hotels has slowed.
We walked back to the ship for a rest, then at around 6 PM Liz, Suzi, Kevin and I went out for dinner with our niece Patty Dana and her boyfriend Ian, who happened to be in Barcelona. We went to an Asian noodle place in the Time Out Center, which also had a shop called Lefties. Of the 10 in our immediate family 4 are left handers and one is yet to be determined.
The next day it was Suzi’s and my turn to stay on the ship, it was just too hot out and we needed some downtime in the air-conditioning, Shannon, Liz and Fiona explored Barcelona’s markets while Kevin and Elias went to the Aquarium.
