Saturday, 11 in the morning. We have met on La Rambla, at the height of the mosaic that Joan Miró conceived, more than forty years ago, to welcome travelers arriving in the city by sea. Miró is also the author of the large mural that decorates the facade of terminal two of the airport and welcomes tourists arriving by plane. It was also planned that a work by Miró himself would welcome visitors entering through Diagonal, but it was finally not done. It was the sculpture Woman, Bird and a Star and it was going to be sixty meters high. Those interested can see its model at the Fundació Miró.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, practically no tourists have arrived in Barcelona. Neither by sea, nor by land, nor by air. Therefore, Miró's mosaic has not had anyone to welcome for a long time and, consequently, tourist guides also have no one to show the city's main attractions to.
Personally, when I travel, I am not at all fond of guided tours. I have always preferred to go at my own pace and do my own research. Partly because, when I have had to listen to the explanations of a tourist guide, I have had the feeling that they waste time with nonsense. For example, I can't stand the obsession some of them have with record figures: that this church has the third largest bell in the world, that to make this cannon I don't know how many hundreds of swords had to be melted... I don't give a damn, man! They also annoy me when they talk about the Venice of Asia, the Sistine Chapel of the Andes or the Hollywood of India... What makes me most angry, however, is when they push you to throw a coin backwards into the fountain with the pretext of attracting good luck or to rub a certain anatomical part of a statue in the hope of guaranteeing good health. And, come on, the whole flock of tourists doing the act, with the corresponding photo so we don't forget.
I can't stand the obsession some tourist guides have with record figures: that this church has the third largest bell in the world, that to make this cannon I don't know how many hundreds of swords had to be melted... I don't give a damn, man!Surely these poor guides only intend to make an enjoyable and accessible explanation that can appeal to a heterogeneous audiencethat is often more concerned with taking a good photo than with understanding what they are seeing. On the other hand, alongside the mediocre guidesthere are others who are extremely well-prepared and who can turn a walk through any city into a real classof history, art, culture, architecture, urbanism or anthropology. Professionals who help us understand the why of things, who know how to read the history written in stones and, with their entertaining but rigorous narratives, make us travel in time.
I invite you to look at Barcelona with the eyes of a traveler and, to do so, I recommend that you do it accompanied by a tourist guide. It is enough for four or five friends to get together and hire their services.This week,I want to recommend that you take a guided tour of Barcelona. Be the tourist. Let yourselves be carried away by streets that, although you may have walked a thousand times, will seem like you are crossing them for the first time.I did it last Saturday and was surprised to discover facades and corners of the Gothic Quarternew to me because, despite having often passed by, I looked at everything differently.
The traveler's gaze is a curious, playful, voluptuous gaze. A very different gaze from that of the ordinary citizen. I invite you to look at Barcelona with the eyes of a traveler and, to do so, I recommend that you do it accompanied by a tourist guide. Just get four or five friends together and hire their services. You will have an entertaining time through exceptionally quiet streets and, at the same time, you will give a little business to professionals who have been having a hard time for months.