Cost of living in Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital of the community of Catalonia, the most beautiful city on the Mediterranean Sea and probably the richest by its cultural heritage and its amazing characteristics that make it one of the most visited cities during the summer time.

The architecture of Sagrada Familia, for example, is probably one of the most wonderful and surprising in the world. This huge cathedral centering the city and giving an astonishing view from the outside impressed me so much, I admire every detail and its significance in the construction of such a masterpiece. People say the construction will not stop until it gets completely constructed, another part of the cathedral is newly constructed and is being even renovated, I was a bit disappointed to see such a landscape because the cathedral is better with its beautiful old and emblematic aspect and not by the freshly painted walls or the design that is too much perfectly made. It's also characterised by a diversity of means of transport, but I preferred personally the bus because it allows us to see more amazing landscapes and to discover all the streets of the city. Barcelona is also characterised by an excellent localisation for its great port, considered as one of the biggest seaports destined for commerce and business.

The traditions of Barcelona are really unique, as they are considered own to the city. One of them involves a group of people, children included, climbing on top of each other to make human castles. Even little children can climb in the human construction, making it very funny and impressive to watch.

We must also be aware that Barcelona is like a country in her own, it has also some traditional part we can never neglect and that we can also highlight. In fact, one of the most amazing and famous tradition in Spain is the flamenco dance, that is of course more typical of the Spanish south and Andalucía, but in Barcelona too we can see those shows in the museums or even in cafes. The flamenco shows for free were really one of the most amazing spectacles I could discover in the city. It is like a couple dancing together in the name of love and the women shows her feelings through her dance. Following the rhythm of her very special shoes, she could draw in our spirits different emotions and we could enjoy a real spectacle of art. There are some spectacles held also in special cafes or bars inside the city. Barcelona is a very festive city, so we can be really surprised to see so much festivals during the year. The atmosphere of party can be felt by walking in its streets by night especially; people gather together to go to clubs or to spend the night with friends and hang out. The movement inside the city was still on his maximum at midnight. Although the commercial centres and the stores close before, the public transport also works until midnight. After that, people tend to go home by buses that cover the transport at night until very late hours.

Cost of renting a house

For any student wanting to have a shared room in Barcelona, he must be very careful: in fact, many rooms are so expensive comparing to their minimum necessary things offered and to its commodities or comfort. Some rooms can be so expensive for a monthly rent and, at the same time, be very narrow, without a view on the window, and shared with owner of the house. I could also understand that the cost of one room or one apartment depended highly from the period and the time during the school year the student wants this accommodation. Tourists arrive in big flows in every season of the year, besides the summer time of June, July or the month of August.

Cost of leisure activities

I also noticed that Barcelona is among the cheapest European cities I have ever visited. All the leisure activities and the amazing experiences we can enjoy are affordable for a person having a small budget. I use many means of transport each time I travel to a different country. This can include buses, trains or metros, and for transportation inside of Barcelona, I did not really have issues, since the prices in Portugal are almost the same as in Barcelona:

• A one way ticket in the underground metro costs 2. 15 euros, for example, to go from plaza Catalonia to Camp Nou, while a monthly pass can reach 50 euros. I could buy with my friends a pass for one week for only 32 euros, but it included the transport in bus and in metro as well, so I consider it was really an awesome plan. The price finally depends mainly on the option each one chooses inside the city, but I don't consider the cost of transport as very high comparing to other cities.
• I noticed also that the prices for meals in restaurants could be a bit expensive in Barcelona, because they can be located in the main avenue, Las Ramblas, or near the port, where we can find usually a lot of restaurants offering whole buffet for prices varying between 13 to 20 euros. For the restaurants destined for different culinary specialities prices can vary a lot, they can reach sometimes 40 and 50 euros for one Indian, Turkish or Thai meal. But the regular Bangladeshi food, for example, offers meals for approximatively 13 to 14 euros, taking into account that they are located in the main avenue Las Ramblas. I could also have a meal inside the amazing and beautiful commercial centre Las Arenas, there are really many types of restaurants, I could have a meal for 14 euros only, it was a plate of Lasagna, and my friends could have a pizza for 13 euros.
• For the lovers of coffees, they can be sure that prices are also very affordable. In fact, one regular cappuccino inside a coffee with great location costs 1. 85 euros, a glass of cold juice costs 3 euros and one bottle of water costs 1. 34 euros, so with good gestion of the money, everyone can spend little amount and live very well inside of this big city. Knowing that I had already packed some food from Portugal and I could also prepare some sandwiches, I saved a lot for the nutrition costs and I could spend only 150 euros in total for one week of stay in Barcelona.

Although, I noticed that the prices of leisure activities inside Barcelona are way more expensive than those in Portugal, where I was spending my internship period. I could, for example, ask for the price of several leisure activities and also spend others, as I also entered in the Camp Nou or in Sagrada Familia. In the amazing stadium Camp Nou, I could enjoy a full tour inside the stadium. I could see the different parts of it and the official museum of Barcelona team for 30 euros. The huge cathedral Sagrada Familia is very beautiful, but the price of entrance is a bit expensive, it costs 20 euros for just a discovery of the inside part of the cathedral. The city also offers games with which people can entertain themselves (either they were excellent in them or not), like bowling or tennis, and the cost of one game of tennis was 20 euros, which is affordable. The Spanish movies are also very known and many people watch them worldwide. The cinema entrance costs for one adult 8, 50 euros, while in Braga or Porto the entrance to the cinema either in Braga Parque or in NorteShopping costs 5 euros for adults. Nevertheless, we must not forget that the Spanish movies are broadcasted in Spanish language, while in Portugal the movies in the cinema are the original ones coming straight from the USA and in English language, they are not translated to Portuguese. In that way, people coming from all over the world can enjoy them.

I could also visit the aquarium of Barcelona for 20 euros, exactly the same price as the entrance to the zoo in Lisbon, which is the Jardim zoologico de Lisboa, that costs only 20 euros and offers amazing dolphin shows and a tour inside the park by the teleferic. While the aquarium of Lisbon is less expensive than the aquarium of Barcelona, it is also way bigger and with more rare species. It costs 17 euros and offers amazing view of the shark aquarium. So we can conclude, after this analysis, that there is a difference in the cost of the two neighbour countries for approximatively the same activities.

Shopping activities

In the main square in Barcelona, we can find the Plaza de Catalonia, where many amazing stores offer different types of stylish clothes. We can find T-shirts for approximately 15 to 20 euros and trousers and jeans for an average price of 20 euros, while jackets cost usually up to 30 euros. Of course, this depends on the store you are entering to choose the clothes. A commercial center located exactly inside of the place, El corte inglés, offers more expensive clothes and make ups in my opinion that can reach more than the usual prices, but it is related also to the quality of the products. Another very beautiful commercial center is located not very far from the beach. It is called Diagonal Mar. I was able to benefit from the amazing reductions in prices, especially in Primark, that do not exist in the other commercial centers, only in Diagonal Mar. It offers a variety of branded shops. Amazing discounts can also be found in the great commercial center Las Arenas, especially in the end of August, when many shops do their annual liquidation. What really amazes me about this commercial center is its outside design, that made me remember the bull fight arenas. I think that, in the past, it was a place of bull fights. These still exist in different regions of the country, but Las Arenas was after that renovated and a commercial center was inaugurated instead.

An awesome and wonderful view can be seen in the highest floor. We can enter by an elevator and see the most amazing view ever, the Plaza de España with its beautiful square, two amazing towers and the beautiful castle converted into the museum of Picasso. The magical fountain is also a great place that I would recommend for many people to visit and enjoy its most unique design, its most conserved and beautiful monuments and most delicious traditional dishes.

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