danon

I arrived in Barcelona on Sunday afternoon . As the taxi was driving fron the train station to my hotel in Eixample.
I could not help but notice numerous graffity - fortunately not on the beautiful buildings, but
on metal shutters pulled over the closed stores.
My last visit to the city was in the spring last year, I don't recall anything similar.
Some parts of Eixample looked downright seedy.

sandralist

There were recently elections.

What did the graffitti say?

Perhaps the last time you arrived in the city it was at a time when all the shops were open.

danon

I have been to Barcelona nine times ..never seen graffity in Eixample near Rambla de Catalunya .
The graffiti did not seem to be related to elections as far as I could tell.

Edward2005

And what's the deal with Grape Nuts? You open the box...no grapes, no nuts.

Cowboy1968

I did not notice much difference to prior visits when I was in Barcelona last month.
I think graffiti on shutters has been around for a long time.
When the graffiti is elaborate and not just a few tags, there is even a chance that the shop owner commissioned it.

You can even take guided tours
http://barcelonastreetstyletour.com/

kimhe

As Sandralist says, this has to do with the elections about the future independence of Cataluña from Spain ten days ago. A major and very controversial issue as you know, and there has even been a graffiti campaign for independence.
http://barcelonastreetart.blogspot.n...utonomica.html

ribeirasacra

Many years ago there was graffiti in BCN.
This blog post from 2012 illustrates some.
https://seemollyrunaway.wordpress.com/tag/leixample/
this example which is not dated.
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...fiti-BR-1.html
or this one.
http://www.tripadvisor.es/LocationPh...Catalonia.html

danon

I realize the election was only last months and that graffiti have been around the city for a long time , but I have never seen
so many in Eixample (one block from Rambla de Cataluya. ).

One can only be grateful they are not ( yet) on billings in that part of the city.

danon

...month

Although the city was jammed with tourists , a found El Born rather quiet and most bars and
restaurants half empty( or closed) on Tuesday around 11:30.
Perhaps it was just that evening, or is another part of the city drawing
the crowds?

southeuropetravel1

I live between Rome and Barcelona and for what I have seen Barcelona has had graffiti on the shutters of their businesses for years, and then of course in the recent years street art has become a big deal so some of it is quite creative.

If you arrived on a Sunday you probably saw the aftermath of the pubs and clubs on Saturday night in Eixample (were I live). Knowing Barcelona, by noon it would have been cleaned up.

The nice thing about Barcelona is that they tend to clean up graffiti on the actual buildings, unlike here in Rome where it's everywhere!

Laura

danon

I was happy not to see graffiti on buildings in Barcelona...
This time I stayed on E. Granados ( one of my favourite streets ) near Mallorca.
I just did not remember seeing so many graffiti in that area in the past.

Many beautiful buildings in the elegant Parioli in Rome were
covered in ugly graffiti when I was there a few years ago.
What a shame.

rialtogrl

There is a lot of graffiti and honestly I don't think a ton of it has to do with independence. There is a lot of weird mishmash language. I've seen more independence graffiti in the countryside.

Maybe because it was Sunday, and many businesses were closed, you noticed it more...

I was in the "food hall" El Nacional last night and it was PACKED... Maybe that is where all the hipsters are

danon

" hipsters " or tourists ?
Cerveceria Catalana is always absolutely jammed - not necessarily by the locals.

Bedar

When I returned to NY in '80, the graffiti was just awful esp on the subways. It was so scary that the first time I saw it I turned around and didn't get on the train. I consider so-called "street art" to also be graffiti. Awful stuff.

rialtogrl

I think a combo of tourists and locals Danon (many of them hipsters) were in El Nacional. But who knows. At any rate it is certainly a popular place to hang out at the moment. Beautiful, too.