So now we are part of a problem

 

 

So how does it feel to be part of a problem? We are here in our rooftop small apartment in the very much residential Born area of central Barcelona, just a few minutes walk from city hall and the cathedral area. The weather is terrific and not a bit like that now being experienced in France/Germany/Czech Republic/Austria/Croatia where floods are devasting these countries and peoples' lives.

 

 

But here we are part of the floods of tourists enjoying history, galleries and Gaudi. Not really understanding the pressures that we are apparently placing on residential rental prices for locals.

 

 

La Rambla is jammed with tourists and Indians flogging rubbish so we have generally avoided that area and this city seems to be one of the few places frequented by Americans in numbers these days. The major attractions have tourist number limits in place and we opted out of a visit within Park Guell (Gaudi) as there was a three hour wait in front of us.

 

 

My other beef for today is cameras, especially those being used by younger Asians as they preen before monuments, shops, street scenes with cameras set on multishot or taking endless selfies. Not to be outdone, one young woman on the chairlift yesterday had her camera taking a video while taking photos on her iphone at the same time! We are different to that of course.  Just here to learn about as others live.

 

 

 

 

Having said all that, we are enjoying the lifestyle and compactness of a really interesting city with endless enticing bars, cafes and restaurants, little shops and the obligatory patisserie. Without us, it must be one of the better places to live on the planet (as long as you have a job). The Sagrada Familia was fascinating and Mr Picasso has a museum just down the street from us that we enjoyed seeing. We have also visited the monastery at Montserrat and simply enjoyed taking our time to live amongst friendly people. We are now fully relaxed and recovered from the Moroccan tour and preparing to move on within Spain in a day or so.

 

 

 

And with the magic of internet we are keeping up with happenings down under. Not missing it much though. Now what was I going to do next?