Finding the Universe

Travel tales, photography and a dash of humor

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Destinations
    • Europe
    • North America
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Africa and Middle East
    • New Zealand
    • South America
  • Photography
    • Buy Photos
    • Photography Gear Guides
    • Photography Tips
    • Location Guides
  • PHOTO COURSE
  • About Us
    • Hire Us
    • Travel Resources
  • Contact
Home » Destinations » Europe » Spain » Things I didn’t know about Barcelona!
Finding the Universe contains affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Things I didn’t know about Barcelona!

Published: 24th April 2012 by Laurence Norah - 3 Comments

Plus, I like a place to surprise me. I asked you guys for your tips, and you supplied them in plentiful fashion. Barcelona’s tourist board, who hosted me so splendidly on this trip, sent me over a whole bunch of stuff too.

But none of this meant that I really knew the following things. I was ignorant… now I am less so. Yay for travel!

Barcelonés, or Barcelonians, aren’t exactly Spanish

ive got a lot to say text.png

Ooh, I’ll start off with the contentious one first then. Sure, Barcelona is *in* Spain. But it is in the Catalan region of Spain, a region which has its own language, own culture and… if the local population had its way… its own borders.

A basic study of Spanish history probably would have helped me out here, but I was never that great at history, particularly after spending two very dry years of my teenage life studying in great depth the Russian revolution of 1917. Something about reading the account of peasants being tyrannised in a frozen wasteland just turned me off history.

So, whilst officially Barcelona is a part of Spain, there are hints everywhere, from flags to language, even to domain names ending in .cat rather than .es, that really, the locals consider themselves somewhat separate. I’m sure there’s a whole world of politics and history here that I could get bogged down in. Instead, let’s move onto other, less contentious and more tasty subjects.

Lunch is a somewhat lengthy affair

Barcelona food tapas squid

I’ve never really travelled in a country which has that Spanish themed approach to lunchtime. I thought the French took lunch breaks seriously, but they really can’t hold a candle to the Spanish.

Lunch time starts a bit later than I was used to (turning up before 1pm raised eyebrows.. try that in France and you’ll be lucky if they still have a plat du jour left), and runs.. well.. until dinner time as far as I could see.

The other thing is that the traditional concept of starters and main courses isn’t the standard here. Possibly because tapas is so popular. Instead, meals consist of two slightly smaller main courses, followed by dessert and coffee.

Food is also incredibly cheap, by Western European standards anyway. It’s not hard to find a meal that includes first and second dishes, dessert, coffee and a beverage, for under 10 euros. No wonder everyone eats out all the time!

Barcelona is a seriously popular destination

sagrada familia you are not alone.png

I had a vague hope, when planning my trip for early April, that i would be able to miss the peak visitor months of the summer, when visiting European cities is… well… a bit of a chore.

And, when we blearily stumbled off the train at 8am on a Saturday morning, the wonderfully deserted narrowly winding streets of the Gothic Quarter were reassuringly empty. We had Barcelona to ourselves!

Of course, the reality wasn’t entirely in line with this first impression. Pretty much any city is largely deserted at 8am on a Saturday morning. As the day wound on, and people started to wake up, it became rapidly apparent that Barcelona is an incredibly popular destination. The major sights were always crowded, as were the streets, restaurants and even the parks!

It wasn’t really a problem – a city is a place of people after all. It was just a little busier than I had imagined for April. Good news for the tourism economy though. I’ll be writing a post on my tips for surviving a European city in summer soon, although in the case of Barcelona, the tips will probably apply year round…

Barcelona is eminently walk-able!

Barcelona gothic quarter street.png

One thing that really stood out about Barcelona, which isn’t always the case with large cities, is how easy it is to walk around.

Sure, there is an awesome public transport infrastructure, with all modes of transport offered, from trams to buses to a metro and even bicycles. But for me, the best way to experience a city is on foot, and Barcelona is a city that is just so wonderful to experience from the pavement.

It has distinctly separate districts, all of which have their own character and beauty. The aforementioned Gothic Quarter is all tiny maze like passageways framed by looming buildings.

There’s the gorgeous beach fronted Barceloneta. There’s the Eixample… full of beautiful art nouveau buildings in a modernist style. Something for everyone, and all just so easy to get between! A walkers haven.

St George is not an exclusively English Saint

Statue of saint.png

For most of my life, being English, I have been living under the misguided impression that St. George was this English chap who slayed a dragon, saved a princess, and gave us a national day that we largely ignore.

Then I visited Barcelona, and discovered that St George is also the patron Saint of Catalonia. Some further research has indicated that he also happens to be the patron Saint of nine other countries, including Portugal and Germany, as well as four cities including Venice. This was a chap whose dragon slaying abilities clearly  travelled well. He was also Turkish.

Unlike the English, for whom the St. George flag only really appears when we want to celebrate our football team being dire, the Catalonians really revere this guy. He appears all over the city in statues and artwork, and his national day is a seriously big deal. Poor old St. Valentine doesn’t get his own day in Catalonia – rather, St George’s day is the day to celebrate love. After all, what’s more romantic than a day celebrating a bit of princess saving and dragon slaying.

On St. George’s day, it is popular tradition for men to give women a red rose, which symbolises the blood of the poor slain dragon, and for women to give men a book, which symbolises knowledge. These days, what with women being allowed to read and everything, the exchange is more balanced, with everyone getting everything. Which seems fairer.

So that was some of what I learnt in Barcelona! More posts will be following on the subject of this wonderful city. In the meantime, if you’ve got stories to share about what you’ve learnt on your travels, or any feedback on this post, do hit up the comments below!

Enjoyed this post? Why not share it!

Home » Destinations » Europe » Spain » Things I didn’t know about Barcelona!

Monthly Giveaway

Don't miss out on our exclusive monthly giveaways with lots of fun travel and photography related prizes! Click here to see our current giveaway and enter!

There are 3 comments on this post

Please scroll to the end to leave a comment

  1. Maxine Peters says

    8th September 2018 at 11:58 am

    Please do we need people like you guys to share our story to the world that it is not all gloom and doom down here and everything is extremely affordable. There is a choice of accommodation including AirbnbPlus homes and apartments. Many of my guests think Cape Town is the best kept secret and a bit of heaven on earth. ….

    Reply
  2. Maxine Peters says

    8th September 2018 at 7:23 am

    On our way to Barcelona , and South of France and found your site MOST helpful .
    Sincere Thanks
    Maxine
    from Cape Town… notice you have not listed our city as one of your destinations …you should visit some time….Ignore the bad media reports about our country…Hope to see you in South Africa soon 🙂 🙂

    Reply
    • Laurence Norah says

      8th September 2018 at 10:51 am

      Thanks Maxine! I have travelled a bit in South Africa, but it was well before my days blogging, and I need to come back 😀

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let me know when there's a reply to my comment (just replies to your comment, no other e-mails, we promise!)

Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter where we share our latest travel news and tips. This also makes you eligible to enter our monthly giveaways!

We only ask for your e-mail so we can verify you are human and if requested notify you of a reply. To do this, we store your data as outlined in our privacy policy. Your e-mail will not be published or used for any other reason other than those outlined above.

About Us

Laurence and Jessica Norah

Hi there! We're Laurence and Jessica Norah. We've been running this site since 2010 as full time professional travel bloggers. We visit all the places we write about personally, and all our content is based on our own first hand travel experiences. We also take all the photos you see on our sites. So grab a drink, dive in, and read on! You can also find out more about us here. Comic included.
Photography course
monthly giveaway
Carbon Neutral Policy

SUBSCRIBE BY E-MAIL

Want to keep up to date with us and our latest travel tips? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Being a subscriber also makes you eligible to enter our monthly travel and photography giveaways!

Thank you!

Please check your e-mail to confirm your sign up.

Affiliate Information

This website contains affiliate links to products and services that generate a small income to us if you choose to use them, at no cost to you. We only recommend products and services that we use ourselves, and will always link to relevant information, regardless of whether or not there is an affiliate program. See our Code of Ethics for more information.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Sitemap
  • About Us
  • Work with us
  • Contact us
  • Blog
  • Destinations
  • Travel Resources
  • Photography Tips
  • Monthly Giveaway
  • Web Stories

© Copyright 2010 - 2021 Finding the Universe®· All Rights Reserved ·
Part of Travel Cats Media Ltd. Registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 11524454.