People to Avoid, Barcelona

Besides a number of Indian youth peddling junk trinkets, especially around Park Guell, there are also eery looking Africans that will no doubt give you a hard time if you do not buy something. They are desperate, but just why they are let into the country is beyond me, legal, or illegal.

ARPI La Rambla 40,Barcelona, SPAIN

I recently had the unfortunate circumstance of frequenting your premises to purchase a memory card for my Nikon Coolpix 7600 camera.

I have to say, the person who served me, I assume the proprietor, was rude and aggressive to the point of ignorant.

This person has no knowledge of memory cards and their compatibility with cameras, he also has no professionalism or care for his customers.

Having sold me a Panasonic 6 gigabyte HC memory card which would not work in my camera, his response was ‘IT IS NOT MY PROBLEM - IT IS YOUR PROBLEM - IT IS YOUR CAMERA.

A visit to a further outlet, confirmed the card should have been an AC memory card of no more than 2 gigabyte.

Obviously, his purpose is to make profit, from visitors to Barcelona with the knowledge they will soon be gone.

On our walk to Sagrada Familia church we were stopped by one man, who wanted to ask where is Sagrada Familia even having a map himself. I pointed the way, told it is already not far and easy to find. Accidentally he changed his mind and asked where is Gracia train station, trying to ask me come closer to him. It looked a bit illogical to us why he needed the different places in contrary sides.

What is more, we saw another black man, standing not so far and keeping an eye to the one we met. I decided not to take further consideration and told we have to go.

Before coming to Barcelona I read about fake situations as well, and the one was about a man who tries to speak with you and to invite you more closely, and the other one, who comes later as a civil police officer (with fake license) and tells to show you documents, as you are speaking with suspected person (drug dealer, so on). So, later they know how to take you wallet or any documents... Of course, it is just my presumption.

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You will NOT find this animal on Barcelona Zoo, maybe in a bar in Barcelona!!!!

Call the police directly when you see this creature. He shall not be loose....

This man shall be behind bars, like in the zoo and if you want to feed him, he wants red wine,cheese, olives and bread! Good company is NOT bad either, because it is NOT good to drink alone. he prefers females....

On the beach in Barcelona, usually many people from Pakistan go and sell beer illegally. You can be taken by the police and have to pay a fine for buying beer from them. Dont do it. It is better to go and support the local bars, even if they are little more expensive. They usually sell water and other beverages too.

The good thing to buy from them, is that you dont need to go away from your spot on the beach!!!

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Many immigrants from Africa runs around in Barcelona and they sell things in leather, all copies. Of course, the goods are cheaper, but they maybe will not be the same quality. And it easy to be fooled by them and you can regret your shopping, if you buy from them. And it is illegally to shop from them. But at the same time their only possibility to get an income and survive, they have to sell illegaly.

Beware of beggar women. While we were eating our lunch two women approached us holding toddlers (about 5 minutes apart) and begged for money. I gave some change I had lying on the table to the first one but I have since heard that they pick pocket you. Luckily for me my bag was between my feet so no one could get at it but just be wary.

We saw many groups of people trying to bribe passing tourists with the game of the three boxes and the coin. Do not listen to these people, because they are cheating (and often those who you see playing and wiining are together with the cheaters)