9 Days in Spain
 

Wanted to report back on our trip two weeks ago to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, and Seville. First of all thanks to everyone who posted advice on this site, especially Maribel for the assistance on hotel choices and renfe issues.

I'll try to stick to highlights (and lowlights):

Barcelona (4 days)

Stayed at the Hotel Arts. A wonderful Ritz Carlton hotel, great service. The concern was that it's not in the heart of the action, but it was only a 4 block walk to the Metro and we found it very easy to get around.

Restaurant Highlights:
Cal Pep - great tapas bar in the Ciutat Vella.
Los Caracoles - wonderful roast chicken and shrimp with garlic

Sightseeing Highlights:
Palau de la Musica - by far the most amazing building we saw. An incredible concert venue and absolutely worth the tour!
Santa Maria Del Mar - an impressive gothic cathedral

Other Highlight:
The Metro. Very easy to use, fast and affordable!

Lowlights:
Even though we were told repeatedly about purse snatchers, and we thought we were prepared, we still got duped. The lesson we learned was that when we were told about the problem, we pictured a single person snatching a neglected purse. We were NOT prepared for what really happened.

We were outside the Sagrada Familia in the park across the street. My wife and I were taking photos and video footage when my wife got hit with a splash of bird droppings on her arm. A local gentleman nearby recoiled at the same time, wiping off his arm and laughing. He gestured to a nearby water fountain where another man was washing off his arm. As we walked towards the fountain, the first man started gesturing at me that I also had bird droppings on my camera case. Our attention was focused on getting cleaned off. As we got to the fountain, he insisted on trying to help us wash off our stuff, and of course, we put down my wife's purse, and (this is NO exaggeration) in 5 seconds,a man ran up telling us that a man had run off with her purse. I chased after, but to no avail. Very upset, we continued to wash off our bags and arms when a man ran up asking me to follow him. He pointed out my wife's purse sitting under a car. Luckily all the credit cards, drivers license, and (unbelievably) her video camera were stlll there. They took only the 40 Euros in cash.

What we learned:
We were prepared for a single person assault. We were not prepared for an organized 3 man scam. There were no bird droppings. It was squirted on us by the theives. And the person who ran up telling us the purse had been stolen was actually part of the scam too. It was incredibly well done and we feel fortunate to only have lost the 40 Euro.

The one thing that we DID do well was that we had followed the advice online and in Fodors to only carry enough cash for the day, and to leave things like Passports in the hotel safe. Thanks for that advice.

I'll continue the trip report (Madrid, Granada, Seville) in a separate post!

Keep it coming, Pacman!

Sorry to hear about the faux bird doo-doo scam, what a drag. But I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

What will people think of next to scam other. Bird poo! Who would have thought. Although I've learned from a Florence experience to watch out for others being too helpful or getting too close.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Headed to Madrid and Sevilla next week - can't wait to hear the rest of your report! Why did the man run up to tell you the purse was stolen?

In thinking about it, I believe that the man that ran up to inform us was actually distracting us from the actual location of the purse. By running up, he got me to run away from my wife to chase a person that didn't exist. I believe that the second man (the one that was already at the fountain) probably had the purse behind his back, and that the misdirection was meant to focus us in the wrong direction.

What I can' figure out is why he came back later to show us where the purse was. Maybe it was to keep us from reporting it to the police. Which they were successful in doing.

We're laughing at it now, because we got beat. But we weren't laughing at the time. It was VERY clever!