Q – My husband and I read traveltruth on our iPad in bed. So thanks for that. Despite the time devoted to your excellent site, we have managed to have two kids and we’re all scheduled to do an Azamara Cruise next summer that will spend two days in Barcelona. Our perfectly behaved angels are four and five and they have assured us that they will be ready for this cruise. But I wonder about issues of safety. You have indicated there is a crime issue in some areas of the city and then I’ve been reading about secession from Spain. Are we likely to encounter riots and street actions or am I just being an overprotective mother?
A – Yes, we think you are. Despite the street gatherings and rock throwing in Barcelona and other portions of Catalonia, most protesters demanding independence paused to take a nice lunch. Yes, there is a street crime issue in the city but that pertains to certain ports of the city core at night, like the Barri Gotic. We’ve heard that there are even portions of some cities in America where it is not entirely safe to do the stroll at night.
Absolutely do the trip. But we do think you might experience some serious demonstrations as the independence movement is quite serious and this coming summer will mark the 300th anniversary of the annexation of Catalonia.
Remember what happened in Catalonia this year. To protest the region’s defeat in the 1714 in the War of Spanish Succession, on million residents of Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia formed a human chain that actually stretched from the edge of the region north to the Pyrenees Mountains. That happened in a province of seven a half million residents. It appears that the independence movement is real and is supported by a majority, tired of being the economic engine that is driving much of the Spanish economy. There will be demonstrations but, once again, we think they will pause for lunch.
