Asterault
posted 05-29-2001 05:39 AM
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Madrid and Barcelona are quite different cities - Madrid is a huge, bustling, crowded metropolis and Barcelona has a much more relaxed, smaller feel. Like Philadelphia and New York in a way. If you ask residents of BCN and Madrid which one is better you will receive an hour long discourse on the merits of their respective city (and inevitably the football team), however I like both for their own reasons. Both are well worth a visit.
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Hello everyone! I pulled the above post from Asterault as it was somewhat comforting to me to know that "some" folks like Barcelona.

The purpose of this post is to ask any and all their opinions on Barcelona as I've heard from some that it's a "non-friendly" city with respect to Americans. I realize this is a "pro Madrid" oriented web site, but would like to hear more comments anyway.

In other words, I've heard from "some" that the Catelonians are very rude to Americans, yet I know a group of 30+ Americans who recently went on a group trip to visit Barcelona down to through Cadaques and EVERYONE of them said that every Spanish person they came in contact with on the Barcelona/Mediterranean side was very nice, very friendly, the food was excellent, people were laid back, etc .

Obviously, conflicting information is a bit disconcerting and I know that each person has his/her own experience and opinion ("i.e. Asterault's statement - If you ask residents of BCN and Madrid which one is better you will receive an hour long discourse on the merits of their respective city), but nevertheless, I'd like to hear some more from you veteran Americans residing in Spain about your opinions of the Barcelona/Mediterranean side of Spain.

Thank you for your time!

EDR

I've met some great people in Barcelona, however I find the majority to be cold and closed, and also a general feeling that other Spaniards are inferior (which has a tinge of discrimination). And forget about living in Girona or some little town where it's worse.

Also foriegners are stereotyped and always regarded as foriegners, which can get to be quite annoying after a while.

I feel that the people in other areas are much more friendly and accepting. In Madrid there's a tad of the 'big city' rudeness, but that's normal.

Bear in mind that there are a lot of people from other parts of Spain who emigrated to Barcelona. You'll find lots of Andalucians there (and they are among the friendliest Spaniards).

Most Spaniards are extremely friendly :D, but there are always degrees of "friendliness". This may mean that the "unfriendliest" Spaniard is more friendly than the friendliest person you can meet in some other countries.