Barcelona: The Crisis

I didn’t have to go to Spain to know there was an economic crisis.  But you feel it there.  On the streets of Barcelona you hear it, how it affects their lives.  They know about the riots in Athens and the looting in London and then know they aren’t that far from it:

“There is no excuse for vandalism, but they need jobs,” says the tour guide shaking his head, speaking of 47% unemployment for recent college graduates.  “America doesn’t seem to realize they aren’t far behind. “

You see tourists in the stores, but that’s it. 

There used to be two time periods in Barcelona, before and after the 1992 Olympics.  Now they talk about before “the (economic) crisis” and after. 

“Because of the economy we have to change.  We used to be closed for all of August, now people are gone for maybe just 10 days.  We have Siesta from two to five.  This has to end.  This doesn’t work in the world economy anymore.”

Gaudi, his architectural imprint is all over the city, t-shirts calling Barcelona the city of Gaudi.  His signature house, Casa Battlo is now owned by candy-maker Chupa Chups.  They rent it out for high-end parties.