Jordi_Pujol's VirtualTourist Home Page
| Page Views: 770 | Welcome to my homepage by Jordi_Pujol - last update: Jul 23, 2004 |
Let the Buyer Beware - Caveat Emptor Hi there! My name is Jordi Pujol, I am 28 years old and I live in Barcelona. I hope you find my website interesting and useful. Lots of tourists visit the city but many of them come ill-prepared. I trust the information I provide here will help make your stay here a bit more enjoyable.
It is summer time and temperatures and prices in Barcelona are soaring. In fact the prices made front page news in El Periodico newspaper [21st July 2004]. You can expect to pay 1.20 Euros for a beer in Barcelona's central Avenguda de Roma but this can jump to 9 Euros in the city's touristy (and rather seedy) La Rambla boulevard. A coffee on a terrace will cost you 95 cents in Avenguda Parallel (also in the city centre) but you might be charged a whopping 5 Euros in La Rambla.
So why is the Rambla so absurdly expensive by local standards (remember, this is black economy Barcelona, not highly taxed and well-administered Stockholm)? The answer is greed and Russian mafia money. The President of the Friends of the Ramblas Association points out that mafia cash has been 'reinvested' in many Barcelona tourist catering establishments. The boys from the East have been buying up cafes and restaurants in the city's tourist districts as if there were no tomorrow, paying property rentals of 30000 Euros a month for tiny business premises on short leases. The bar sign might say Cafe Lolita but the chances are that the 'investment' came from trafficking in girls from the former Soviet bloc. You can guess how the new owners make these catering establishments pay - by bleeding tourists white. The bar and restaurant terraces in the Rambla (and Passeig de Gracia for that matter) are best avoided unless you happen to have a lot of the folding stuff to throw around or are taken with the idea of helping launder other people's money (and getting taken to the cleaners in the process).
Walk down the Ramblas by all means (keeping your eyes skinned for pickpockets) but choose an ordinary side street in the city's safer Eixample District if you are feeling thirsty.
Ask to see the price list (displaying it is a legal requirement). A 'reasonable' price for a 25 cl beer or a coffee is 1.5 Euros - anything much over this and you are being stung. Make sure that both food and drink prices are fully specified. If you do fall into the trap, remember, you can demand to sign El Libro de Reclamaciones [Official Complaints book], which every establishment is required to keep by law. These are examined by the authorities and complaints about overcharging or failing to display prices are likely to get owners into hot water. Even so, it is better to avoid this kind of situation in the first place. |
 Comments for Jordi_Pujol | | | | |
NuriaBCN Fri Jul 30, 2004 15:27 UTC
Hola Jordi. Your page has a great introduction about Barcelona but since it is my home town what I am really more impressed about is your English. Wow ! I think I never saw a text written by a Spaniard or Catalan in such a good English. Felicitats ! | knerten Thu Jul 29, 2004 22:32 UTC
Gee, I simply love your intro! My only visit to Barcelona so far was an airport stopover, but this intruiges me enough to wanting to go back and see for myself what you describe... | maryamy Wed Jul 28, 2004 18:08 UTC
Nice intro page! |
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