Annebeth Vis has lived in Barcelona for over five years. She works as a freelance journalist for Dutch online and printed media. For Like-a-Local she takes tourists on the Avantgarde Shopping Tour. Annebeth shares a flat in the centre of the city, just off the famous Ramblas.

Last weekend I was having dinner with some friends and we came to talk about the AVE train tunnel to be constructed just under the famous symbol of Barcelona: the Sagrada Familia. The organization against the AVE railroad, SOSSagradaFamilia, had placed a video of Gaudi’s temple collapsing on Youtube. Fiction that could come true if the construction goes through, claim the opponents of the plan. I asked one of the Catalans present about her opinion. She came up with a conspiracy theory: Madrid wanted the tunnel to be constructed, in order for the Sagrada Familia to come down. That way tourists would stay away and look for a new Spanish destination. The capital would be the most likely. And that is how Madrid would win the ancient battle going on between the two most important Spanish cities. I thought the most interesting part was how this example shows the deep the rivalry between inhabitants of these cities. Nevertheless, I do advise tourists to visit the impressive Sagrada Familia now that it’s still there.

Check out the video!
Annebeth Vis

The theory about Madrid it’s completely absurd!. Most Barcelonians don’t care much about Madrid at all… we enjoy our city, our ‘ways’ and our problems (too)... and we only want to be left alone -not being pushed or ordered by Madrid, that is!

Regarding the tunnel… well, again I think there’s a bit of unsustantiated comments going around. One has only to watch any Discovery Channel documentary about great civil engineering constructions all over the World to understand that it does not have to provoke any “collapsing” of La Sagrada Familia. One should take into account that we’ve got here a few of the most famous architects in the World (Bofill, Calatrava…) and I wouldn’t think they’d keep quiet if they thought this was “so” dangerous.

The “only” problem I can foresee is if someone wants to cut corners and save money… that could provoke a disaster. But after another fiasco that happened two years ago on the construction of a metro tunnel I would think any “digging” in the city is now escrupulously controlled.
Enric - 07 09 08 - 09:33

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