Hi,
> << I was sorry to see
> that you don't favor Las Ramblas; what a wonderful venue to do street
> photography and "grab shots" of all kinds!
> >>
>
> I was surprised too until I watched a travel special on tonight by Rick
Dees
> (sp?)...the last time I spent several days in Barcelona was in '77, and I
> can't believe how much more commercialized the Ramblas is now..
Exactly!
For me, the Ramblas have virtually zero charm left, it's Barcelona's major
tourist trap, consisting of one long street lined with (too) expensive
stores, often semi mediocre restaurants, street performances that are far
from original (you know, the people that paint themselves in a specific
colour and then stand motionless), and millions of tourists. Add to that the
undoubted presence of pickpockets, and that makes for me about the complete
sum-up of a place I don't like to be in :)
Actually, a thing I appreciated better was to just stroll through some of
the small streets that are located next to the Ramblas, these have more
interesting (small) stores, better restaurants, better prices, less tourists
and on a general basis are less hectic.
> of course, they hadn't been out from under Franco for long, not many
travellers were in
> evidence, prices were dirt cheap (my 3-room suite cost $3.50 a day!) and
people spent
> their off-hours simply walking as the only stores along the Ramblas tended
to be flower
> stalls and restaurants. The throngs and souvenir shops I saw tonight bore
little
> resemblence to the Ramblas of yesteryear.
This is exactly what I was getting at: the Ramblas have no "real" charm
left, the Spaniards themselves don't frequent the restaurants over there
either, they too deviate and go to the smaller places just off of the
Ramblas. In Spain (as in many countries), for having a good time: do as the
Spaniards do, and go to the places they go. I really enjoy going to the
smaller Spanish bars and "suck up the atmosphere" in there for a while (this
is where I hope to have gotten some good TOPE 7 shots), that just so much
more shows what Spain is all about than the tourist traps.
Actually, the phenomenon you describe is typical, I've seen it happen (a.o.)
in Hungary too, I was there in 1985 when the country was still rather closed
and I loved the atmosphere in Budapest, then I went there in 1995 (after it
had westernised) and I hardly liked it at all. Sure, the same buildings were
still there, but the whole atmosphere had changed and Budapest has now
transformed into your run-of-the-mill western city, a la Amsterdam: lots of
tourists, and McDonalds on every street corner :(
Well, perhaps for the people who live there it might be for the best
(economically spoken), but the price they pay is the loss of the identity of
their city (and of themselves?).
Probably the very same is what you witnessed in Barcelona, in 1977 it was
only two years since Franco died, so the country was still recuperating from
that and it was hardly visited by tourists at all. Spain "has come a long
way since" (I write this in quotes, as on a general note indeed Spain has
improved tremendously after Franco died, but Spain has become perhaps a bit
too touristy too), nowadays, Spain is Europe's most (or second most?)
favourite holiday destination and it shows: the coast's atmosphere is
practically completely spoiled (ask any Spaniard and they will attest to
that), with places as Lloret de Mar and Salou being completely ruined by
Dutch, British and German tourists going there on the cheap (mind you, this
applies to a part of these peoples, not every member of them is a bad one...
;) ).
Then, also in Amsterdam the same is visible, my grandparents often mention
me just how "upper-class" Kalverstraat used to be, and nowadays........:(((
Ah well, a sign of the times?
Good, now to drag this whole thread back on topic: regarding the suggestion
that Gioconda should use the OM-2n: I suggested that to her, but she
preferred the OM-40. I think it's not such a bad choice, as the Program mode
and ESP will hopefully protect her somewhat against bad exposures in
difficult situations...
Cheers!
Olafo
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