Rolling Traveler

There are few things I enjoy more than going somewhere I’ve never been in the company of a good friend, and just taking our time to explore and soak up the atmosphere. It’s an adventure: we might love the place, we might find nothing to our taste, but travel is always a worthwhile gamble. Of course, with the wheelchair, such a trip can’t be completely unplanned, and there have been times when even with planning, some of the locations I’ve been looking forward to seeing have proven too inaccessible to appreciate. This weekend, my good friend Lanny and I went to Barcelona, and I am happy to report that we both enjoyed it immensely, and had no difficulties getting around with the wheelchair. Barcelona is a beautiful city and an excellent holiday destination, and I rate it highly wheelchair friendly.

I found Barcelona very easy on the arms overall. Much of the city is flat or has gentle slopes, and the crosswalks all have lowered curbs, although some of these ramps are steep, so even stubborn old me had to ask for a helping hand occasionally. The few steeper hills in the areas of interest to tourists are a challenge, particularly in the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter, and once again I found myself gritting my teeth and asking Lanny for a push. I was particularly confounded by the ramps around La Sagrada Familia and La Seu Cathedral: the available space around each is limited, so the ramps are just that bit too steep. I had one moment of I-can-see-the-headlines panic when I felt myself losing control and starting to slide rather than roll down the ramp to the Museum in the basement of La Sagrada Familia, but Lanny caught the chair and I threw on the brakes. I pick my traveling companions for their reflexes, clearly.

However, I can’t really fault the city for the steepness of the ramps. The authorities seem to have done the best they could with the available space, and the level of accessibility of Barcelona’s major tourist attractions puts some other major European cities to shame. We managed to cover a lot of ground in the couple of days. We circled the Placa de Catalunya, then strolled down La Rambla looking at all the street vendors selling everything from souvenirs of Spain made in China through hardcover photography albums to irritated green iguanas and frightened angorra rabbits. The Cathedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulalia (La Seu) and the surrounding Barri Gotic (Gothic Area), as mentioned, proved challenging due to the steeper hills, but were well worth the effort with the many small stores and cafes, and with at least one delightfully beautiful building on every street, including remnants of the old Roman city walls. Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia was everything you would imagine, and the museum in the basement and gallery of ideas and inspirations on the ground floor added a great deal to the experience. The Arc de Triomph was impressive, and the Park de la Ciutadella with its museums and small zoo was a pleasant surprise. All of these had disabled access restrooms on site or nearby, and were as accessible as they could be. There is a great deal more to see, but we did only have a weekend.

My personal favorite piece of public accessibility work was at the sea front at la Barceloneta. Not only is there a disabled access bathroom on the beach, there is a boardwalk going all the way from it down to the sea. Why didn’t I bring a towel? I’ve never swum in the Mediterranean… ah well, an opportunity missed, but there’s always next time.

All this said, bear in mind that Barcelona is an old Euopean city, so many buildings are not accessible, but in the business sector considerable effort has also been made: with only one exception, all the restaurants we ate at had an accessible bathroom, and the higher doorsteps on many stores and eateries had been adapted with ramps. There are still high doorsteps on many locales though.

Public transport was also very accessible. The buses are low-floor and accessible, with a ramp on the middle doors and a berth to park in, and the Metro is surprisingly accessible, putting London’s Underground to shame. Although I have heard reports of wheelchair users having problems with taxi cabs, I didn’t encounter any issues there.

It is rare that I call a city beautiful, but Barcelona deserves the name. Besides the many wonderful and well-known tourist attractions, there are the never-ordinary regular buildings. Every one of the streets, whether narrow and winding or broad and tree-lined, has at least one building that draws the eye, ranging from tall, high-windowed and wood-shuttered houses through colorful tiled and mosaic-fronted buildings to distinctly Mediterranean apartment buildings with intricate wrought ironwork balconies. The stores seem to put matching effort into their window displays, and even when closed can have something to offer: their steel shutters are as often painted with cute or intricate murals as they are tagged by the rampant graffiti, which was somehow less intrusive here than I find it elsewhere. The city has areas that are narrow and intimate, and others that are spacious and lively, and overall gives an impression of being vibrant, and thanks to its many parks, green and breathing.

If Barcelona has a negative side to its sensual impression, it is the unfortunate state of its sewers. I can’t speak for them in rainy weather or on a winter’s day, but it the full heat of a cloudless Spanish summer’s day, they reek. It is a mixture of mud-flat and refuse, and every drain you pass seems to belch fetidly at you. It is a terrible shame, because the city is generally clean. More than once, we decided to go somewhere else to eat because the sewer smell had penetrated a restaurant or cafe. It was hard to get away from. Also, Tuesday morning seems to be when the trash is collected in the Gothic Quarter, so Monday evening presented a less than attractive face to the city.

Barcelona Point by Point

Would I go back?

In a heartbeat, and this time, I’d pack for the beach as well as for the city.

Essential Things to Pack.

In summer, make sure you have sunscreen and sunglasses: the light is very intense on sunny days, and there were a lot of sunburned people squinting at menus in the restaurants by evening. It’s also a good idea to pack a light waterproof jacket, as the location between the sea and the mountains can make for very wet weather, even in summer. We were lucky enough not to be rained on, but my flat-mates had rain every day of their trip last year.

When to go.

Tuesday through Saturday are the best days to be in Barcelona. Most stores and many restaurants and cafes close on Sundays, even in the tourist areas, and there were also many closed on Monday. August is the month when many of the locals go on holiday, heading home to take part in Spain’s many small summer festivals, and while this means the city is less crowded, it also means that some of the best places to eat (i.e. the places the locals go) are closed for part or most of the month.

And remember…

Siesta is from around 2 PM to around 5 PM, and that means a lot of closed stores and eateries. Plan your day accordingly.

Verdict.

Barcelona rates a Very Good in terms of wheelchair accessibility, although you will need a companion to fully explore the city, particularly the Gothic Quarter and Sagrada Familia. It is a beautiful city, and has a lot to offer tourists of all kinds.

Links.

The Essential Barcelona Tourist Guide, which includes a FAQ with questions regarding disabled access.

A View on Cities: Barcelona has a great guide to the tourist attractions, with plenty of historical information, and it is a very easily navigable site.

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