As an expat living in Barcelona for a number of years now, I agree with everything you've said. Spot on. I will things have gotten far worse post-covid.
This is all true. I've lived in BCN for six years and just received my permanent residency. The closer you are to the city center you will expect to find most of these issues. Please do visit but keep you wallets, purses, and phones very close.
In my 74 years never have been robbed, the hight prices of the rent of horrible non isolated old and dirty flats is the fault of the people who rent this flats.
Hello Paulius, about green areas, let me suggest you the "parc de Nou Barris", it's a very huge park in Llucmajor to Canyelles area. Also "Parc del turó", there are two parks with that name but both work well. In those you can calmly seat in the grass. The best though, Parc de Cervantes, with plenty of flowers and is lovely.
I agree with the dogs' "goods" 😅 and really lots of chaotic tourist 😅 I've been living here for just few months, still trying to figure out things. Thanks for this video
before I arrived here I had known about the smell problem and petty crimes, so mentally I was somehow prepared…but the bloody cucarachas caught me off guard…haven‘t had to deal with that for more than 10 years…hopefully it will get better :). Thanks for making a video about the other side of things as well :)
Thank u Paulius for giving the insight of bcn s environment , the good nd the bad. A personal do u still like bcn? And if not would u like to move out? Nd to where? Thanks for the response
You mentioned the division between Catalans vs Spanish people vs expats. Is it even possible to become friends with locals? Or as an expat you will be trapped to expat bubble?
Depends, I think key is trying to integrate by learning Catalan and Spanish. Of course you will meet and make friends with locals and some don’t even care if you speak their language. At the same time , people here tend to hang out in bigger friend circles , so being that one person with whom everyone needs to make effort to communicate with is probably not the most pleasant experience for either side.
Is possible become friends with local of course specially if you speak catalan the language of this country,however you will have one year of time to learn it, no problem;-)
hey, person from barcelona here! we love having people from all over the world as it brings more perspectives... but we do like that person being open minded, respectfulll and mindfull (to life and culture). If you are interested in spanish and catalan culture that's lovely! from what i have experienced, we are really open to everyone and wait with open arms to any kind heart :)
It's pretty difficult to say exactly as over these years I've lived in Barcelona only, but there are definitely quite few small towns near Barcelona that are just 30 min train commute away and at least the ones I've visited didn't have smell issues. Air quality I guess depends on how busy the city is and where it's situated.
Hey Paulius, amazing videos you have. I'm from Brazil and wanted to move into Spain and Barcelona is the city with more jobs for me (I work with IT), but this thing about noise really worries me because I always lived in very quiet places. Do you recommend any town close to Barcelona that is quieter, or neighbor ? Thank you so much!
Hey ! There are more quiet neighbourhoods in Barcelona, or even less noisy parts of more loud neighbourhood. When I lived in El Clot it was very quiet. Sant Gervasi , Sarria, Sant Marti would be pretty quiet neighbourhoods too. Apart from that towns around would be great option and potentially much quieter , but I haven't lived or spent evening there so a bit hard to say :)
As someone who lived in Barcelona, everything this guy is saying is an exaggeration. When you're walking around, next to trash cans mostly, you'll smell something funny. When you walk by construction, you'll hear loud noises. When you're in bad areas at night, you risk getting mugged. If you live in the city center, rent is going to be expensive. These are all things you will experience in any large city. I say come to Barcelona and see for yourself that it's just like anywhere else, just better in better ways and worse in worse ways. Because there's more of everything in Barcelona, it's like Spanish Los Angeles.
nothing is an exagerration of what he says. I double everything and I would add okupa problems, huge taxes on everything and many many others. Despite all my heart still finds reasons to love this city. But you can t deny has super shitty downsides :)
As a catalan i get a bit angry when someone who is been living here for years cannot even understand catalan language. It's a lack of respect to the people and culture of Barcelona. Of course most of catalans can understand and speak spanish due to an historic agressive imposition of this language in Catalonia. My mother used to be called "catalan dog" in the street just for speaking catalan with her friends.
Where/how can people learn Catalan? There's lots of resources for Spanish but I wonder how tourists/expats could learn a regional language more easily.
The Franco era, was really hard on people, and the harm he caused is still perceivable on people today; it only ended around 1979- this is still recent. I was married into a Catalan family, hardly knowing Castellano, but this was the only course available and affordable at the time. It was confusing to learn Castellano while being at home with Catalan-speaking family, who also spoke Castellano. The bright side is that I learned to see and hear the similarities in words and sometimes when someone is speaking to me in Spanish and changes to Catalan, I am not aware this has happened! The more exposure, the more experience. A mica, a mica, som plau la pica . . .
Sarria, sant gervasi, el clot, sant marti , parts of poblenou comes to mind. But also it depends on the street and where you live. You might be in super quiet neighbourhood next to a busy street and it will be noisy.
yes he is right... don't come to shitty Barcelona!!... flats are expensive and there are a lot of cockroaches, noisy, polluted ... (we are already enough of us living here.. stay away!).. go to nicer places like Vilnius or Warsaw.
Have a feeling there will be some people who won't like this.
It's really about time to shave the big hairy mastodon in the living room. Thank you for making this video.
As someone who is in the process of moving to Barcalona, these videos have been unbelievably helpful, thank you.
Happy to hear that ! All the best on your move
As an expat living in Barcelona for a number of years now, I agree with everything you've said. Spot on. I will things have gotten far worse post-covid.
This is all true. I've lived in BCN for six years and just received my permanent residency. The closer you are to the city center you will expect to find most of these issues. Please do visit but keep you wallets, purses, and phones very close.
Congrats on getting permanent residency !
In my 74 years never have been robbed, the hight prices of the rent of horrible non isolated old and dirty flats is the fault of the people who rent this flats.
Hello Paulius, about green areas, let me suggest you the "parc de Nou Barris", it's a very huge park in Llucmajor to Canyelles area.
Also "Parc del turó", there are two parks with that name but both work well. In those you can calmly seat in the grass.
The best though, Parc de Cervantes, with plenty of flowers and is lovely.
Thanks a lot for suggestions ! Actually just went to parc del turo yesterday and really loved it :)
I agree with the dogs' "goods" 😅 and really lots of chaotic tourist 😅 I've been living here for just few months, still trying to figure out things. Thanks for this video
before I arrived here I had known about the smell problem and petty crimes, so mentally I was somehow prepared…but the bloody cucarachas caught me off guard…haven‘t had to deal with that for more than 10 years…hopefully it will get better :). Thanks for making a video about the other side of things as well :)
Cucarachas always come when you least expect them. Really stress me out when I see one too haha
Thank u Paulius for giving the insight of bcn s environment , the good nd the bad. A personal do u still like bcn? And if not would u like to move out? Nd to where? Thanks for the response
Yes I still love Barcelona :) I probably would move out, but honestly don't really have any better options in mind at this point in time.
amazing videos about barcelona :) thank you for your info
Thank you!
I'm moving in barcelona..thNks ❤
I’m signing under every point!!! I moved here permanently 1 month ago and unfortunately there ARE negative sides here 😩
Are you still living there? Xx
Is the smell that constant in most central places? Every day you smell sulphur at all times?
Hey , not really, but there are parts where it’s very frequent indeed
You mentioned the division between Catalans vs Spanish people vs expats. Is it even possible to become friends with locals? Or as an expat you will be trapped to expat bubble?
Depends, I think key is trying to integrate by learning Catalan and Spanish.
Of course you will meet and make friends with locals and some don’t even care if you speak their language.
At the same time , people here tend to hang out in bigger friend circles , so being that one person with whom everyone needs to make effort to communicate with is probably not the most pleasant experience for either side.
Is possible become friends with local of course specially if you speak catalan the language of this country,however you will have one year of time to learn it, no problem;-)
hey, person from barcelona here! we love having people from all over the world as it brings more perspectives... but we do like that person being open minded, respectfulll and mindfull (to life and culture). If you are interested in spanish and catalan culture that's lovely!
from what i have experienced, we are really open to everyone and wait with open arms to any kind heart :)
the answer is: NO
How far away from the city center do you need to live to get better air quality (not so much pollution and no smell)?
It's pretty difficult to say exactly as over these years I've lived in Barcelona only, but there are definitely quite few small towns near Barcelona that are just 30 min train commute away and at least the ones I've visited didn't have smell issues. Air quality I guess depends on how busy the city is and where it's situated.
@@PauliusCreates do you not go to southern part? Is it expensive to travel for you?
Hey Paulius, amazing videos you have. I'm from Brazil and wanted to move into Spain and Barcelona is the city with more jobs for me (I work with IT), but this thing about noise really worries me because I always lived in very quiet places. Do you recommend any town close to Barcelona that is quieter, or neighbor ? Thank you so much!
Hey ! There are more quiet neighbourhoods in Barcelona, or even less noisy parts of more loud neighbourhood.
When I lived in El Clot it was very quiet. Sant Gervasi , Sarria, Sant Marti would be pretty quiet neighbourhoods too. Apart from that towns around would be great option and potentially much quieter , but I haven't lived or spent evening there so a bit hard to say :)
@@PauliusCreates I will take a look into those, thank you!
Yes, i lived in Sarria and super quiet
As someone who lived in Barcelona, everything this guy is saying is an exaggeration. When you're walking around, next to trash cans mostly, you'll smell something funny. When you walk by construction, you'll hear loud noises. When you're in bad areas at night, you risk getting mugged. If you live in the city center, rent is going to be expensive. These are all things you will experience in any large city. I say come to Barcelona and see for yourself that it's just like anywhere else, just better in better ways and worse in worse ways. Because there's more of everything in Barcelona, it's like Spanish Los Angeles.
Saying that everything in a video is exaggeration - is exaggeration.
nothing is an exagerration of what he says. I double everything and I would add okupa problems, huge taxes on everything and many many others. Despite all my heart still finds reasons to love this city. But you can t deny has super shitty downsides :)
As a catalan i get a bit angry when someone who is been living here for years cannot even understand catalan language. It's a lack of respect to the people and culture of Barcelona. Of course most of catalans can understand and speak spanish due to an historic agressive imposition of this language in Catalonia. My mother used to be called "catalan dog" in the street just for speaking catalan with her friends.
Sorry that happened to you mother
What is the culture more than catalan? Just Wonder why is soo important
Where/how can people learn Catalan? There's lots of resources for Spanish but I wonder how tourists/expats could learn a regional language more easily.
The Franco era, was really hard on people, and the harm he caused is still perceivable on people today; it only ended around 1979- this is still recent. I was married into a Catalan family, hardly knowing Castellano, but this was the only course available and affordable at the time. It was confusing to learn Castellano while being at home with Catalan-speaking family, who also spoke Castellano. The bright side is that I learned to see and hear the similarities in words and sometimes when someone is speaking to me in Spanish and changes to Catalan, I am not aware this has happened! The more exposure, the more experience. A mica, a mica, som plau la pica . . .
Which areas are least noisy?
Sarria, sant gervasi, el clot, sant marti , parts of poblenou comes to mind. But also it depends on the street and where you live. You might be in super quiet neighbourhood next to a busy street and it will be noisy.
Bad smell is a deal breaker for me 🤢And paying a fortune to live in a cubicle in a smelly city definitely isn't what I have in mind.
👍👍👍👍👍
yes he is right... don't come to shitty Barcelona!!... flats are expensive and there are a lot of cockroaches, noisy, polluted ... (we are already enough of us living here.. stay away!).. go to nicer places like Vilnius or Warsaw.