maccacracker
Well-known member
After reading this thread I felt compelled to add my recent experience in Barcelona.
I'd been there a couple of times before and went with the wife and kids. Our flat was a short walk from Parc de la Ciutadella and I used to get up at the sun rose and my family were still asleep. I took shots of monk parrakeets with the bright greens illuminated by the sun. There is a grey heron nesting by the edge of the lake. I virtually stumbled upon a cuckoo which had perched in the branches of a small bush.
I managed to negotiate a day at the Llobregat delta which was superb - lots of finches, warblers, a night heron, some spectacular butterflies and a few terrapins crawling around. I had a great day.
Then I made a very bad mistake. A few days later I went back to Parc de la Ciutadella on a Sunday afternoon and sat on my usual bench with my camera strap wrapped around my wrist and neck. The place was crawling with locals and tourists and in the soporific afternoon heat I drifted into a minor doze only to discover that my camera, lens and memory card with all my pictures had been stolen from around my neck in an act of deception so astonishing it would have made Harry Houdini proud. I ran around in a frenzy but the robbers just melted into the heaving throngs of sunbathers and drinks peddlers and my worst fears were realised. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the holiday which had effectively been completely ruined.
After a day queuing with all the other tourist victims at the police station, I emailed the police report to my insurance company and, thank God, I was covered and several weeks later got my insurance payout. However, all my pictures were lost and my view of Barcelona is tainted forever. I don't think I will ever go back.
Even in broad daylight I witnessed tourists being mugged, pickpockets at work, constant hassle on the tube trains from peddlers and immigrants. There is a heavy police presence in the city centre but they simply drive around slowly in circles while the crime continues in front of their eyes. They seem to have adopted a sense of hopeless resignation that the city's crime problems are so endemic there is nothing they can do.
So anyone looking to bird in Barcelona, be extremely careful, and especially avoid Parc de la Ciutadella with its nasty vagrants sleeping under the palm trees, and North African peddlers looking for tourists to rob.
We're going back to Scotland this year.
I'd been there a couple of times before and went with the wife and kids. Our flat was a short walk from Parc de la Ciutadella and I used to get up at the sun rose and my family were still asleep. I took shots of monk parrakeets with the bright greens illuminated by the sun. There is a grey heron nesting by the edge of the lake. I virtually stumbled upon a cuckoo which had perched in the branches of a small bush.
I managed to negotiate a day at the Llobregat delta which was superb - lots of finches, warblers, a night heron, some spectacular butterflies and a few terrapins crawling around. I had a great day.
Then I made a very bad mistake. A few days later I went back to Parc de la Ciutadella on a Sunday afternoon and sat on my usual bench with my camera strap wrapped around my wrist and neck. The place was crawling with locals and tourists and in the soporific afternoon heat I drifted into a minor doze only to discover that my camera, lens and memory card with all my pictures had been stolen from around my neck in an act of deception so astonishing it would have made Harry Houdini proud. I ran around in a frenzy but the robbers just melted into the heaving throngs of sunbathers and drinks peddlers and my worst fears were realised. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the holiday which had effectively been completely ruined.
After a day queuing with all the other tourist victims at the police station, I emailed the police report to my insurance company and, thank God, I was covered and several weeks later got my insurance payout. However, all my pictures were lost and my view of Barcelona is tainted forever. I don't think I will ever go back.
Even in broad daylight I witnessed tourists being mugged, pickpockets at work, constant hassle on the tube trains from peddlers and immigrants. There is a heavy police presence in the city centre but they simply drive around slowly in circles while the crime continues in front of their eyes. They seem to have adopted a sense of hopeless resignation that the city's crime problems are so endemic there is nothing they can do.
So anyone looking to bird in Barcelona, be extremely careful, and especially avoid Parc de la Ciutadella with its nasty vagrants sleeping under the palm trees, and North African peddlers looking for tourists to rob.
We're going back to Scotland this year.
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