Der RCD Espanyol, der zweite Fußballverein in Barcelona, welcher in der Primera División (der 1. spanischen Liga) spielt, eröffnet heute sein neues Heimstadtium in Cornellà-El Prat, also dort, wo vermutlich die meisten Fans wohnen…

Wir dagegen waren dort, wo wirklich Fußball gepielt wird, auf Barça-Tour:

Barça – més que un club!

Last week we did the Barça tour offered by the Barcelona Guide Bureau (www.bgb.es or www.barcelonaguidebureau.com). Their Managing Director Joan Callís says of the organization: „Through us, visitors discover the real city of Barcelona“.

We were met by one of the Guide Bureau’s staff in Plaza Catalunya who welcomed us and explained the organization of the tour. We were actually extremely lucky as we had our private guide, nobody else had booked the tour.

Our guide, Josep Maria Romero (www.jmromero.com) first showed us around Montjuic mountain and explained a few things even people living in the city might not know. Josep Maria is one of 25 full-time licensed guides employed by the Guide Bureau. He himself is an active traveller and has also written his own travel books.

After our drive around Montjuic we arrived at Camp Nou (New Field), which is actually not so new any more as it was already built in 1957.

Barça's stadium: The Camp Nou in Barcelona

Before Josep Maria showed us around the „inner life“ of the Barça stadium, we were shown quite a pointless 3D film about FC Barcelona and Camp Nou.

The inside of the stadium surprisingly (to us at least) includes a small chapel where players can pray before a football game.
Unfortunately, the changing rooms were closed off as U2 had recently played in the stadium and serious cleaning up was still going on, even on a warm and sunny Sunday morning!
We were told that the footballers’ changing rooms aren’t worth a visit anyway, as it seems nobody has bothered to refurbish them for quite some time. The changing rooms owned by FC Barcelona are said to be nicer than those of the visiting teams.

After that, we went outside on the playing field where Pep Guardiola usually stands and shouts encouragements during a game. We actually took the way the footballers take as well. The experience wasn’t as fascinating as we thought it would be, again pretty old design. It seems that from close up the Camp Nou is lacking some fresh colour. But I guess the players don’t really care before a game.

On our way back downstairs we passed the TV studio from where Catalan Television TV3 broadcasts.

We went up some ranks on the same side of the stadium to where special guests like politicians or other celebrities normally sit during a match. From there you have the best view of the whole estadi as you are actually close enough to recognize the players’ faces. Aren’t we really envious now??

Going up another few ranks we were led through the VIP area of the stadium which is so much nicer than the rest of the facilities as everything here actually seems newer.

Above everybody else’s head the radio’s (and other press) cabins are located. Those cabins really looked old and I wouldn’t want to spend a whole 90 minutes watching the match on those uncomfortable chairs!

We also visited the press room which everybody knows from TV and also the so called „zona mixta“ where the players pass through after a game and meet the press people for their short interviews.

Josep Maria showed us around the museum as well and impressed us with some really good FC Barça knowledge.

El Triplete

At the end of the tour we were „forced“ to pass through the shop as in any good tourist attraction.

We were positively surprised by the very good quality of the tour and can only say that it’s really worth it to have yourself shown around by BGB. They offer everything from daily tours visiting Barcelona’s highlights, walks through the Barri Gotic to tailor-made tours.

The Barça stadium itself is worth a visit as it is known for so many emotional moments and no real football fan should miss it. The only real deception was how old the stadium really looked from a closer perspective.

Please visit the Barcelona Guide Bureau‘s website to book the Barça-Tour and many other tours.

Buchen kann man diese und andere Stadtführungen beim Barcelona Guide Bureau.