‘Visitors wouldn’t dream of behaving the way they do at home in Barcelona’

Barcelona's staggering rise in popularity in the 1990s was generally greeted with nothing more than bemused pride by its citizens. Tourism was the golden goose that kept many bars and restaurants from going under during the financial crisis and provided employment for tens of thousands of people.

It is difficult to say when the turning point was.

Perhaps it was when the local trains started filling up with beachgoers, or the year when it seemed like an ice cream parlour suddenly appeared on every corner. Or perhaps it was when the handful of small family-run shops in the Ciutat Vella ...