We arrived in the city fairly late in the evening (flying from Liverpool) so didn't really get the chance to take in much of the city that night. We did however catch the metro down to Placa Catalunya (a few stops from our apartment) and have a quick wander down Las Ramblas. It was around 11 o'clock and things were just warming up there (people go out late in Barcelona), but the kids were pretty tired and hungry so we settled on the nearest restaurant to a a metro stop. Of course, on Las Ramblas most of the bars/restaurants along here are tourist traps. We seemingly stepped into an Italian/Indian/Spanish place more akin to Little Chef than El Bulli (a restaurant a few miles down the road from Barcelona often regarded as one of the best in the world...almost impossible to gain a reservation, not that we could afford to dine there anyway).
I'd normally demand we should wander deep into the back streets and find a small, homely restaurant but at this stage (having not eaten for the best part of the day) I quickly acquiesced and tucked into pretty banal pizza (in Spain I ask you!). I wouldn't been surprised if these were sourced from the frozen section of a Spar (yup...Barcelona is full of them, although they did come in very handy for us).
Washed down with a little Spanish ale and my body soon came back to life. Following our 'feed' we spent half and hour wandering down the very, very busy Las Ramblas. I'm not sure I entirely like this area if I'm honest. In fact it's quite possible best avoided (once you've 'been there, done it' at least). It's dark, it's paving design a relic from the 70's and the entertainment is best ignored completely. How many 'people statues' can one take in an evening? Such acts litter the place up and down the mile long stretch. Slotted in between these are the expensive and not particularly decent bars and cafés. A slight diversion and you would find much better streets and squares to have a drink and take the city in. Every forth shop seems to be a tourist trinket place selling the ubiquitous mug, Barcelona FC shirts and Gaudi memorabilia. During the day Las Ramblas is a little more interesting: the sight of many kiosks selling all manners of pets is pretty bizarre to our UK high street eyes. You can also see where you're going during the day – lighting really is a problem in the evening (and of course Barcelona has a reputation as a pick pocketers paradise).
By all means take a wander down this famous street but you'd be wise to spend your euro's elsewhere.
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