The neighbors of Park Güell have had enough. Used to be, they could walk around in peace and observe the unnatural beauty of the grounds designed by Barcelona’s favorite shrooming architect. Now it seems that every day the common rabble of the Ramblas is moving further up the hill. Where there used to be only a few sunburnt guiris (1.6 million in 2000, to be exact), there is now an annual flood of 4 million tourists who come to have their picture taken next to the happy lizard.

And just as rats brought the fleas that carried bubonic plague, the tourists have dragged along with them all the parasites that were formerly quarantined within the Barri Gòtic. When hooligans aren’t smashing the poor happy lizard’s head in, they are robbing oblivious Scandinavians who always seem to have their wallets half-hanging out of their khaki shorts. The park has also been infiltrated by the ever-baneful human statues and blanket vendors (lovingly referred to in Spain as top manta), turning Gaudí’s gardens into a sort of crap collector’s Disneyland. Of course, the upside is that if your purse gets snatched, you are always three paces away from a new fake Gucci bag.

The Federación de Asociaciones de Vecinos de Barcelona rejected instating an entrance fee to the park but has agreed to put a cap on the number of visitors allowed inside at any given time. Starting next year, tourist groups must make a reservation, but school groups and neighbors (and pickpockets) will not have to wait in line. The Federación has also proposed to finance the conservation effort through a tourist tax, similar to one currently being charged in Paris, that would be included in hotel bills.

On the downside, neighbors must now travel all the way down to the Ramblas any time they get the hankering to play Three-card Monte.

Photo: Louis Hearn