Barcelona!

I have been hitchhiking from Berlin to Frankfurt to Paris to Barcelona to Paris to Lille to Vienna to Sofia and back home to Rotterdam. Why specifically these cities? Well, because in all of them I have friends which I had not seen for a long time. All my hitchhiking I have done in 1,5 months. About every hike and destination I write a short story on my blog. This time: Barcelona!

My hitch to Spain was a rather difficult journey. The trouble started I tried to get out of Paris, which proved itself to be harder than anything I ever tried hitchhiking. The city is designed in such a way that there almost seems no possibility to get out of the city without public or private transportation. Maybe that is why everybody advises hitchhikers NOT to even bother trying hitching in Paris, however I was stupid enough to give it a try….

I first decided to take the metro to the suburbs, however waiting with my sign (I had written “Montpellier” on it) proved to be a little pretentious and after having stood there for at least 3 hours I decided to try something else. I trespassed through industrial areas, jumped over fences and got chased by German sheppards to eventually get to a gas station which was situated ON the motorway. Finally! I thought!

However, hitchhiking is not common practice for the Parisians (how I love them!). Hence that I was stuck for another 2 hours, asking people if I could get a hitch to any place in the slightest direction of Spain. Parisians… Finally, I got a ride from two Marseillians who brought me some 200 km down south. After a couple of rides I made it to Réaumur, where I got picked up by the strangest , but friendly, family.

The two parents were smoking pot constantly in the car, while their small girl annoyed me constantly by pulling my hair and playing with my fingers. How I love kids, wonderful! Anyways, this couple drove me, being stoned as 2 Frenchies can be, all the way to Montpellier. After a couple of more rides I finally made it to Barcelona! The duration of the whole trip? About 16 hours (I was hitchhiking both day and night).

In Barcelona I had the most friendly welcome by Sebastian (a great musician and an even better friend), who picked me up at 03:00 AM in the morning. I had been to Barcelona a couple of years ago and had actually stayed there fore 2 months. Hence, I knew the city a little bit.
Although I enjoyed every bit of Barcelona and my company there (thanks Mirjam and Sebastian!), I also must admit that Barcelona has changed a lot since the last time I was there. The city used to be free spirited: a place where people like Manu Chao and Picasso enjoyed themselves and got their inspiration from. Of course there was Catalonian nationalism, poverty and a lot of prostitution. But the city was as raw as it was dynamic and creative.

A lot of things have changed since then. The Catalonian government wants to be European (whatever that might mean) and is now cracking down old squats and hired an aggressive police force (the Mossos) to violently break down any form of alternative spirit (e.g. sitting in the park drinking alcohol) that could potentially disturb civil obedience. This violent police force is increasingly in the news for beating up people. Actually the city reminded me vaguely of that movie, I saw not long ago “V or Vendetta”.


Of course, not all is bed. I made some brilliant photos of industrial areas in the city and will post them soon enough to give you an insight on the other “Barcelona”. The part of the city that is under construction , where they are still redbrick factories from the 1950s. A place of contrast, a place where new architecture meets post WWII industrial redbrick housing. Simply wonderful!

I had a great stay in Barcelona, except from the commercialisation and increased presence of the police. However, the city has changed and it is not for the better.