# Barcelona Then & Now: 60 Years of Change in Photos I still remember the dusty shoebox tucked away in my abuela's attic in Gràcia, the one she swore held "ghosts of the old city." It was 2019, just before the world flipped upside down, and I was rummaging for childhood trinkets. Instead, I unearthed a stack of faded black-and-white prints from the late '60s—my uncle's handiwork, a young photographer capturing Barcelona during Franco's waning grip. Flipping through these barcelona then and now photos 60 years apart against my phone's fresh snaps felt like time travel. One image: a narrow alley off La Rambla, laundry flapping like surrender flags between sagging buildings. Today? That same spot gleams with cocktail bars and boutique windows. We've all seen those viral overlays, but holding the actual prints, feeling the creases under my thumb, hits different. This is how Barcelona has changed over 60 years, up close and personal. My family fled rural Catalonia for the city in '62, chasing factory jobs amid the "Spanish Miracle." These photos aren't postcards—they're gritty proof of survival. Over the next pages, I'll walk you through my overlays, from smog-choked skylines to reborn neighborhoods, blending my uncle's lens with my boots-on-the-ground revisits in 2025.

## My First '60s Glimpse The first photo that gut-punched me was of the Sagrada Família, snapped in 1967. Back then, it was a skeletal spire poking through construction dust and Franco-era restraint—four towers barely risen, scaffolding everywhere. My uncle captioned it "La Torre que Nunca Acaba." Standing there last summer, I teared up tracing the same angle on my iPhone. Now eighteen spires rise high, the nave inside glowing with stained glass that shifts with the sun. I queued for hours that day, the line snaking past souvenir hawkers. No apps to skip ahead back in '67—folks waited half a day. I lingered on the Passion Façade, its jagged angles echoing the era's hardships, protests brewing. Overlapping the shots shows barcelona landmarks then and now comparison in raw form: from barren facades to a basilica that's finally holy. It's Barcelona's stubborn heart, beating louder after six decades. The visit stretched into the afternoon, sweat beading under the sun. I wandered the perimeter, imagining my uncle framing his shot amid market clamor. ## Skyline Shock Fast-forward to the waterfront, where the real jaw-dropper lives. Uncle's 1968 print of the port area: warehouses, fishing boats in oily water, smokestacks belching. No drama, just grind. I hiked to the same vantage last winter—silver towers looming, reflections dancing on the Med. Historical Barcelona vs modern skyline pictures at its most visceral: smoke giving way to shimmer. I rode the cable car up Montjuïc for the panorama, the city sprawling below. Back in the '60s, the horizon ended at chimneys; now it's towers and marinas. From a perch at the Hotel Arts bar, I pinned uncle's photo to the glass. Port Vell buzzed with promenaders, yachts dwarfing old trawlers. Barcelona traded rust for reinvention post-'92 Olympics. Wind whipped salt and faint exhaust—reminders change leaves scars. Those towers spark debates over soul vs. height. Still, the overlays thrill.

## Barrios Reborn Deeper in, Eixample and Poblenou tell quiet revolutions. Uncle's '66 street shots capture old vs new Barcelona street views: tram tracks rutted, kids kicking cans past scarred facades. Bar El Xampanyet in the Born: a dim spot slinging cava to workers. Retracing last spring, the barrio's galleries and gins, bones familiar. Poblenou stole my heart. Once smoky factories, now tech hub "22@." Uncle's Rambla del Poblenou: empty lots, calçot stand. Today, cyclists past lofts, distant towers peeking. I savored fideuà at a dockside spot, seafood tangled with saffron, evoking old fishermen. Guzzled house vermut, chatting with a tattooed barman whose grandad worked the docks. "From chimneys to code," he laughed, "paella stays sacred." Kids still play in plazas, but with drone views overhead. ## Whispers from the Gothic No journey skips La Boqueria. Uncle's 1967 snap: stalls with pears and rabbits, vendors hollering over fish. Iron skeleton same, energy amped. I slipped in at dawn last October, elbowing through hush. Chatted with Maria, third-gen jamón slicer. "Mi abuelo posed for that gringo," she grinned. We shared crisp calamar, briny. "Tourists want Instagram; we want survivors." Stunning Barcelona changes over decades photos shine here—same arches, global fusion now. She waved off my overlay: "Ghosts eat too." Pure life: sizzle, banter, citrus zest.

## Echoes of Unrest Rawest twist: uncle's '67 Plaça Catalunya photo, hushed crowd, banners furtive against Franco—stirrings before '77. Barricades, trams halted. In 2025, amid climate marches, the echo chilled. Protests evolve—from dictatorship to evictions—but plaza's charge remains. Sat on steps overlaying, pigeons scattering. This visual history of Barcelona urban changes underscores resilience: suppressed shouts to megaphones. Gràcia traded tenements for festivals fiercer. Change as defiance. ## Chasing Ghosts in the Barrios El Raval, once dens and grit, now murals exploding color. Uncle's lanes vs. today's street art. Detoured Macba plaza, skaters where shadows lurked. Up Montjuïc, Olympic rings over trails; his '69 scrubland tents. Each flip reveals layers: Roman under Gothic, walls to metro. Pa amb tomàquet endures, now with twists. Humor in contrasts: '60s Fiats vs. e-scooters. Barcelona's better—vibrant—but aches for unhurried alleys. ## Final Reflections Sixty years on, prints yellow, but Barcelona's electric. From barcelona before and after city photos to lived breaths, a love letter to reinvention. Before apps own the paths, chase your own ghosts—dig albums, stand in frames. The city's waiting.