A different Barcelona

When my friend and I checked all the main tourist spots, including the Sagrada Familia Church and Parc Güell, and when we took so many strolls along the Ramblas that the juice vendors at the Boqueria Market almost greeted us with a “welcome back – once again”, we thought we had seen pretty much everything Barcelona has to offer. But we were wrong!

 

Just before leaving our hostel, we stumbled across some leaflets promoting the Free Alternative Barcelona Walking Tour. Did somebody say graffiti? Subcultures?  Dark secrets of some of Barcelona’s most famous neighbourhoods?  Count us in! And so we spent our last day in Barcelona discovering the city from a whole different perspective, learning more about it from this one tour than from the whole week of sightseeing. The energetic tour guide introduced us to some of the most prominent street artists and took us to an ever-changing graffiti wall, a place where drawing graffiti is actually legal. Moreover, he provided us with information about historical events, protest movements, different organisations, and, last but not least, everyday life in the city. I thus learned that the building I had photographed that same morning, just a few hours before joining the tour, is not only interesting because of the beautiful mosaic on its door; it turns out the whole place is squatted by immigrants. What about the palm trees, one of Barcelona’s trademarks? According to our guide, they were only imported to the area in 1992, when the Catalan capital hosted the Summer Olympics. Oh, and the city bikes, a mean of transport that works so well in many European cities? Well, apparently this system does the environment more harm than good in Barcelona, because people only use the bikes to go downhill, and trucks are constantly needed to carry them back uphill.

 

I would love to tell you more interesting facts about the city, but after about an hour and a half (of what would later unexpectedly turn into a five-hour walk) my brain was so tired that I pretty much just followed along, busy guessing whether our guide would ever feel the need to stop and breathe again. So I really struggled to follow the creepy story about some famous child killer towards the end of the tour, and when my friend and I arrived back to the place where the tour started, we were completely exhausted. Exhausted, but content. I admit I felt a bit embarrassed when I realised I had spent the whole week looking at the same motives and the same signatures, and yet somehow failed to realise these graffiti were all part of the same story. Embarrassed that I had seen all the main tourist sights, but never paid any particular attention to the hunched figures in front of them, praying for a better life. 

 

This experience, will probably not change how I feel about guided walks, but if I ever stumble across a similar offer, I will think twice before saying no. It seems that whenever I take part in a guided tour, I end up all sweaty and stressed from running after the (always overly energetic) guide. This Free Alternative Barcelona Walking Tour was no exception, and I was rather unhappy about this fact, especially towards the end of our walk, when my legs started complaining for getting a bit more exercise than they had initially expected. However, I learned so much; and what is even more important, I saw a Barcelona that is completely different from the one found in tourist guides, and it made me want to come back and continue exploring the hidden gems of the Catalan capital. 

 

If you are interested in such alternative walking tours, browse the Internet before you leave and check if any similar activities are offered in the city you have chosen as your next travel destination. If you are travelling to Barcelona, you can join the tour organised by the Travel Bar. Either way, there are usually many different tours to choose from (often free or pay-what-you-wish), so you can be sure to find something that will suit your taste.