Little Secrets of Barcelona: Nooks, Crannies and Curiosities

If you're tired of typical travel guides, this book is for you.

Little Secrets of Barcelona will lead you on an exciting journey of obscure tales, unknown places and hidden mysteries in a city beloved by thousands and visited by millions.

Alex and Katya highlight landmarks, places and enigmatic corners of Barcelona just waiting to be discovered, all while telling incredible stories of their past, present and future. 

This book is a travel guide for a curious mind who enjoys diving deep into local lore and discovering hidden treasures. It is as much a history and culture guide as it is a guide for travel—use it at your leisure to discover more of what makes Barcelona so unique... and be prepared to fall in love with the city all over again.

From the authors:

Barcelona is a city accustomed to tourists and boasting an excess of wonders. It does not allow its guests ever to feel like they’ve seen and done everything! One visit to Barcelona isn’t enough to cover the enormous cultural ground it offers.

At a certain point, you will find yourself wondering if there is more to Barcelona outside of its central neighbourhoods, if there are other architects besides Gaudí, if there is life outside of the tourist hubs.

And sure enough, just like anywhere else, there is—Barcelona is not just the combination of its Top‑100 sights and attractions.

Trying to dig deeper into the city’s rich history and vibrant life with the help of the usual suspects (mass market travel books) may prove futile. Having been once or twice, you can write a similar one yourself.

For a truly deep dive, you would need to comb through the archives, talk to the old-timers, read poorly formatted history books in Catalan, visit the sixth page of search results on Google and walk around the city, block by block.

This is exactly how this guide was written. We won’t discover the second Sagrada Família hidden on the outskirts for you, but the little secrets we have uncovered are all an integral part of the urban landscape that they were shaped by—and, in their turn, they helped shape the city around them.

Happy coincidences and tragic circumstances, commercial triumphs and catastrophic failures, world-changing technological breakthroughs and life-shattering cataclysms... The stories behind those places are old as time. Their heroes are proof that Barcelona owes its popularity not just to lone geniuses, but also to thousands of ordinary people with their passion, entrepreneurial spirit and belief in themselves.

Barcelona lovers armed with our guide will discover new and unexpected things about the Catalan capital.

Are you a first-timer? Should you leave this book at home?

Not at all! It will be useful for everyone. Many of the secrets in the Old Town and Eixample are found along the most well-trodden tourist roads, and to see them one needs only to raise one’s head or turn one corner.

Our guide also includes curious facts about the top attractions in Barcelona, to which guests rush having barely unpacked their suitcases.

We hope the book will accompany you on many pleasant walks, mysterious findings and marvellous discoveries in Barcelona!

About the authors:

Alex Aribau was a historian, ethnographer, and the chief editor of the web portal Costa Brava Maniacs who lived and worked in Barcelona and Begur. He passed away in 2023, leaving behind the legacy of neverending exploration, curiosity and observation. He is so, so missed by his family and many friends in Catalonia, Canada and Russia.

Katya Ryabova is a writer and research consultant. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Feedback, comments or questions: bcn@smmhq.ca