My Trip To Barcelona

My trip to Barcelona (you are here)

[Español] ishayirashashem.substack.com/p/barcelonaespanol

[Catalàn] El meu viatge a Barcelona: ishayirashashem.substack.com/p/barcelonacatalan

1. A Brief Detour On Our Way To Barcelona

2. Barcelona Welcomes All 15,000,000 of You Tourists Every Year

3. More on Barcelona and Hospitality

4. Tourist Guilt for a Jewish Mother

5. Shabbat, Stairs, and Social Commentary

6. Image Gallery (if you're reading this in email, click “show images” now so that you can see them!)

Special thanks to Xavier L Parra (@xaviwalks on Instagram) for reviewing several drafts of this piece and helping me check the Catalan translation. His thoughtful feedback—and patience with my questions—made this much better (and more accurate) than it would have been otherwise. If you ever find yourself in Barcelona, he’s a great person to talk to. As always, thanks to Debbie Rubinstein for helping me with the Spanish translations. Any mistakes are mine alone.

1. A Brief Detour On Our Way To Barcelona

I recently went to Barcelona. I was very excited about this, because if you’ve read Isha’s Travel Blog,¹ you know that I am rather provincial, except for my interest in languages. I've never even been to Europe, but my husband had to go for work, and it was a chance to practice Spanish! (I didn't know about Catalàn.)

But first, a delay, because it was a long time before I got a chance to practice my Spanish.

🛫🛃🛬

We missed our connection from London to Barcelona, so we had the opportunity to enjoy the view from the windows of Heathrow airport for a few hours. This will be my justification for taking this post onto an off-topic detour right now.²

In Heathrow, we weren't allowed to leave the airport, in case we missed our connecting flights. However, they generously allowed us to breathe the English air, use the British bathrooms, and charge our devices with electricity from the United Kingdom. They even let us go shopping!

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that Duty Free shopping consists entirely of alcohol-filled glass bottles. If we wanted “alcohol products in glass containers”, we would have been set for life. But I don't use alcohol, and anyway, we do not keep glass in our house, except for one wedding gift from my uncle that somehow hasn't broken yet.³

What would have been extremely useful: A SIM card. Strangely, not a single mortal human working in Heathrow knew where to get a European SIM card, and they even seemed scandalized that I dared ask the question. Perhaps I should be grateful that they acknowledged the existence of SIM cards at all, working, as they do, in a major international airport. I found this inexplicable.

Eventually the ordeal ended, along with this meander off topic, and our plane touched down in Barcelona. The local temperature was announced in Celsius instead of real American numbers, and was therefore useless to me. But it was late. I had reached my limit for cultural adaptation, and went to sleep.

2. Barcelona Welcomes All 15,000,000 of You Tourists Every Year

The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful view. My travel blues had vanished overnight, and I was ready for an adventure. My husband went to go do Work Things. I was there for fun. But not too much fun.

So I joined a tour of the Gothic Quarter, hoping it would be just depressing enough to keep me in line. And I started learning about the history of Barcelona.

The Romans founded the port city of Barcelona, which they called Barcino, as a Roman colony around the year 15 BCE.⁴ It was a good place for a strategic nautical outpost, and has been an international gateway ever since. North Africans (and later Muslims) came to trade their spices. Romans (and later Christians) came with swords to stay in charge. And I’ll let you guess who came to facilitate business and financing…

The first Jewish families were probably survivors of the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, when the Second Temple was destroyed by Titus, a Roman general. Barcelona was in its infancy, a small Roman outpost fortified with meager stone walls, hugging the sea.

But they stayed. Jews lived in Barcelona for over a thousand years, where they prayed, worked, traded, and raised children who spoke Hebrew, and Latin, Catalàn, and Spanish. They even developed their own language - Catalànit.⁵ And by the time they were expelled, a thousand years later, the city had changed many times over. Only the sea remained the same.

In the early 8th century, Muslim Saracens conquered Barcelona. The Jews were accused of opening the city gates to them; this was a common accusation when Christian cities fell to Muslim forces. By the year 801, Frankish Christians had driven the Saracens out, establishing Barcelona as a Christian stronghold holding off Muslim territories to the south.⁶

Barcelona was the capital of Catalonia, a country between Spain and France that is now divided between the two countries. Alternatively, Northern Spain is South Catalonia and Southern France is North Catalonia. It depends who you ask.

Catalans have their own language (Catalàn), a unique culture and identity, and do not consider themselves the same people as Spaniards from Madrid, whom they view as having occupied them to this day, and having imposed Christianity on them.

Under Christian rule, the Jewish population grew from 70 families in 1079 to about 4,000 people by 1300, making them 15% of Barcelona's population. The medieval Jews who helped build this city's reputation were not officially citizens, but rather “property of the crown”- welcome for their contributions, but never fully accepted as locals. As Christian power consolidated, tolerance of Judaism decreased. After the 1391 riots devastated the community, few Jews remained.

So in 1492, when the Spanish Inquisition issued its formal expulsion, there were no Jews left to expel. Similarly, when World War II arrived in Europe, Barcelona had no Jews to persecute; they had driven them out centuries before. In fact, Jews weren't officially allowed to move back to Barcelona until 1968. And that is why there is no native Jewish community of Barcelona; it is all transplants. They are now 3,400 strong, in a city of 500,000 Muslims and 1,000,000+ Christians.⁷

It is interesting that all three groups claim descent from the Patriarch Abraham, who was known for his open tent and hospitality, as Barcelona has historically had a complex relationship with both visitors and immigrants.

3. More On Barcelona and Hospitality

Abraham was known for his hospitality. In Avot d’Rabbi Natan, we’re told that Job’s incredible hospitality didn't compare to Abraham’s.⁸ Both of them had tents with 4 doors, so as not to inconvenience guests coming from any direction to walk around the tent to get to the door.

In that case, how was he not as good as Abraham? I mean, the stories told about Job make him seem like a pretty amazing host. Like this one:

When poor people would meet one another on the street, one would ask the other: ‘Where are you coming from?’

‘From the house of Job.’

‘And where are you going?’

‘To the house of Job.’

And when he was afflicted, Job said before the Holy One, blessed be He: “Master of the Universe! Did I not feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty? Did I not clothe the naked with the fleece of my sheep?”

G-d said to Job: ‘You have not yet reached half of Abraham’s impressive hospitality. You sit and stay in your house, and guests come to you.’

So it is with Barcelona today. 15 million tourists come to visit this city of 1.5 million people every year. It's wonderful, and it's a lot. Even the most hospitable cultures would eventually need a break from all that hospitality.

What brought the tourists? Barcelona used to be an industrial city, full of factories. Before the 1992 Olympics, it spent six years reinventing itself—and it worked. From the outside, it seems like one of the great success stories of modern urban renewal. 30 years later, they still talk about hosting the Olympics with pride.

4. Tourist Guilt For This Jewish Mother

But it is not only Jews. Barcelona has a complicated relationship with both religion and providing for others. Even today, its major religions do not freely coexist. Mosques are forbidden from having publicly visible signs. See footnote for more on restrictions on practicing Islam in Catalonia - for instance, while there are 29 unmarked oratories where Muslims are permitted to pray, there is not a single official mosque.⁹

We saw almost no sign of that community, except for one sweet moment. My husband wore his normal, obviously Jewish head covering, and when we walked past a halal restaurant, the man standing in front warmly invited us to come in. He insisted that halal and kosher are the same thing, so we could eat at his restaurant. That is not true, but it was a very nice moment.

“Las Ramblas used to be charming apartments,” one guide explained, gesturing at the tourist-filled street. “Now it's all tourists.”

She was right. It was all tourists. Hundreds, no thousands of tourists. The guide had said that, 20 years ago ago, people in Barcelona would walk down the center of the La Rambla. Then the tourists came, and the locals were forced to take their rambling to more distant / local areas of the city.

The difficulty with having too many tourists was a surprise to me. A place like Abu Dhabi would do anything to get this many tourists! I know, because there was a huge sign in Spanish encouraging travel to Abu Dhabi! Or maybe it was Catalàn.

Abu Dhabi should be more careful. Imagine if all the Barcelonians move to Abu Dhabi to escape the affliction of the tourists, and the people in Abu Dhabi will walk around saying things to them like, “Remember 20 years ago before the Catalonians figured out that Abu Dhabi was anything more than a desert with oil? Wasn't that lovely when we could go to Mosque without bumping into tourists all the time. And they don't even eat halal.”

But Abu Dhabi was not encouraging people to come live there. Just to visit. Meanwhile, people fall in love with Barcelona and want to live there. But they settle for visiting. Maybe it is because the locals go to great lengths to keep its local character.

For example, La Boqueria is a major market in the middle of the city. Groups are not allowed to stay together, because that would make it look like the tourist trap it has become. There was nothing for me to buy anyway, and I wanted to separate from the group to go to the kosher store before Shabbat. So I bravely hailed a taxi from La Boqueria.

This actually improved my experience quite a bit. The store was staffed by local members of the small Jewish community. In front of the store was a security car. And inside was a fascinatingly meager and random selection of kosher products. Including something called “bacon”, but with multiple kosher certifications (See image gallery.) They basically left me completely alone until I asked for help. Xavier explained to me that overenthusiastic service in Barcelona is considered insincere.

These locals told me which synagogue to go to, and in true Jewish style, which synagogue is the one they would never, ever step foot in - out of a total of 3 synagogues. I felt a real honesty and frankness and enjoyed the interaction.

Back to La Rambla, one area is called the street of the birds. This is because there used to be small colorful birds there, in the halcyon days before it was swarming with tourists. I felt vaguely apologetic about this. For the record, as a tourist in Barcelona, I would have been happy to feed Barcelona's beautiful colorful birds.

To our left was the slums. These were not of general interest, according to the guide. We were informed that it's perfectly safe, just it is better to keep a low profile and hold on tightly to your possessions. Sometimes there are problems. But there wouldn't be problems if not for the tourists. All the other tourists, of course, our group personally is lovely.

She made me feel almost embarrassed to be a tourist. So I went back to the hotel. My husband and I went out to explore in the evening, and he found the historical Major Synagogue of Barcelona, now a museum.

We asked if they ever have prayers. The docent said that they don't do official services, but you can pray if you want. It is inappropriate to visit a house of God just to sightsee, and so we said some Psalms and tried to learn from the exhibits. Most of the pictures in the gallery at the end of this post were taken at this museum.

There was a key from a Jewish family expelled from Barcelona, who kept it for generations. (See gallery at the end of this post for the picture of it.)

5. Shabbat, Stairs, and Social Commentary

Fortunately, the next day was Shabbat, and keeping it in the hotel was an adventure of its own. We don’t use electricity on Shabbat, so we couldn’t take the elevator or open our own door. I had figured we wouldn’t be the only ones avoiding using electricity. I mean, Greta Thunberg would have used the steps if she were there, right? But everyone seemed very surprised that we actually did.

We couldn’t carry outside on Shabbat, so we’d leave our key at the front desk. We felt kind of bad, since it turned out that the staff were obligated to walk us all the way to our room.

Amusingly, I started to notice a pattern: the women they sent to accompany us always went the full distance, making sure we ended up in the room where we belonged. The men, on the other hand, tended to disappear once we were on the steps, assuming we’d find our way. What does that teach us about gender, trust, or the human condition in general?

Since it was Shabbat, we couldn’t use our phones, money, or carry anything. Thankfully, they had organized another walking tour — this time with a guide named Xavier.

Xavier was the best guide possible. He knew everything about everything. It turned out his brother teaches history. He is possibly the most politically correct person I’ve ever met, and yet, he was still fascinating to learn from. This is a rare combination. The first thing I asked him was whether he disliked tourists.

Like our previous guide, Xavier didn’t seem thrilled about the flood of tourists, but he pointed out, with gentle humor, that as a tour guide, he probably shouldn’t dislike them. Fair enough.

We walked from the hotel past the beach, where he showed us how Barcelona embraces diversity. “They’re not judgmental,” he explained. “Everyone does what they want.”

When I told him I was thinking of writing about how Barcelona, a city tied to the descendants of Abraham, known for his hospitality, seems to have lost that value, he offered a thoughtful counterpoint. “After 3,000 years of people coming in,” he said, “we learned to be cautious.”

With Xavier, I started to appreciate Barcelona a little more. It really was charming. The part of the city we walked through had only a very few tourists, and we passed a neighborhood meal happening right in the street. I was happy to see that there were old people. You always know you’re in a real community when the old people are out.

The Roman houses and ancient streets were also interesting. I wasn’t expecting to care, but I did. Xavier said that Barcelona was more or less an industrial city before the Olympics. Now it’s considered one of the great tourism success stories of the modern era.

I mentioned the prevalence of anti-Israel graffiti to Xavier. I thought to myself: they don’t want Jews in Israel, but historically, they definitely don’t want Jews in Barcelona!

Xavier looked genuinely concerned. He said it’s very popular in Europe, and that he doesn’t really understand why — but it’s everywhere. Points for diplomacy.

(After reading the first draft of this post, Xavier clarified that the graffiti is not against Jews, but rather against Netanyahu and Israel’s current government policies. In fact, Catalonians have a past of solidarity with Jews l.¹⁰ His own grandfather had survived a Nazi camp, Mauthausen.)

Then it occurred to me that they’re anti-tourist. Maybe it’s not that they don’t want people like me—it’s that they don’t want us to leave. But then again, that only applies to tourists. The Jewish story here runs deeper.

“I'm sorry for leaving,” I wanted to say to Barcelona, but wasn't sure if I meant it.

Images from Barcelona

1.

2. Which we will. Eventually.

3. Thanks Uncle Allen.

4. https://patrimoni.gencat.cat/en/collection/barcino#:~:text=%22Iulia%20Augusta%20Faventia%20Paterna%20Barcino,become%20what%20is%20now%20Barcelona.

“Iulia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino”. This inscription on a tombstone in the Museu d’Història de Barcelona (Barcelona City History Museum) shows the full name the Romans gave the city when they founded it in the years 15-13 BC during the time of the Emperor Augustus and which would become what is now Barcelona.

5. https://www.worldjewishtravel.org/listing/city-story-barcelona

6. There is more to say, for example about the historic debate between Nachmanides and the Dominicans in Barcelona. You can read about that here: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/disputation-of-barcelona

7. Estimates vary. This is what I think is most accurate.

8. Avot d'Rabbi Natan, Version A, Chapter 7:

“Abraham’s tent had four doors, one on each side, so that travelers coming from any direction would not be troubled to find the entrance... Even Job, who was known for his hospitality, did not reach half the level of Abraham, for Abraham would go out and seek guests, while Job stayed in his house and waited for them to come.”

9. https://www.catalannews.com/society-science/item/why-doesn-t-barcelona-have-a-mosque

Unlike other major European cities, Barcelona does not have a large mosque. The Vienna Islamic Centre, the Great Mosque of Brussels, the Mosque of Rome are sites of worship that can accommodate thousands of people. If Barcelona has such an important Islamic population, why does it not have a big mosque?

It is certainly not because Islam has less believers than other cities. Indeed, although there is not a mosque, there are many Muslim locals or centers of worship. There are 29 oratories, 11 of which are in the Ciutat Vella district. Islam is the third religion with the largest number of centers of worship, behind Catholicism and Evangelical Christians. In Catalonia, there are almost 500,000 Muslims, according to the Islamic Spanish Commission.

The project of building a mosque seems to have been on the agenda for a long time. In fact, there were rumors that it would be built last summer in La Monumental, an old bullring in Barcelona. However, the left-wing Town Hall explained that Muslims preferred small centers of worship rather than a major mosque.

10. For example, see here. https://thediplomatinspain.com/en/2023/01/19/holocaust-remembrance-mauthausen-barcelona-tel-aviv/?amp=1

The fact that the Spanish exodus into exile was largely channelled through Catalonia and that many of those who fled were Catalans forged special ties between the Spaniards who suffered and died in Mauthausen and the Jews interned in the camp with the priority objective of making them disappear from the face of the earth. The Catalan Francesc Boix, known as the photographer of Mauthausen, is responsible for preserving the negatives of the photos that he himself, Antonio García and José Cereceda took of daily life in the camp, and which the Germans tried to make disappear so that the Allies would not find evidence of the genocide. Those photos, together with Boix’s own statement, served as damning evidence against the Nazi leaders in the Nuremberg and Dachau trials, held in 1945 and 1946.