This is reminds of a story of friends of mine from South Africa. They took the kids out of school to travel all the way up Africa and into Europ and back down for a year. They got robbed three times. Two times in France and once in Spain...
Maybe you don't know what the feeling is like? I mean, how long have you lived in Oakland? If you grew up in the city with the 3rd highest crime rate in the US, maybe your barometer isn't calibrated the best?
Unless things have improved a lot in the last fifteen years, it's really pretty easy for a tourist inclined to walk between touristy areas in Oakland to wander into an unsafe area. I wouldn't blame that on stupidity, it's not as if the city puts warning signs up.
I visited it recently, and the entire Lake area has become gentrified. Almost like an entirely new city, with lots of people out at night. And I wasn't too worried about being robbed. Of course, I was robbed at gunpoint just a few years ago walking home from work in Redwood City - so it just goes to show it can happen almost anywhere. Except, of course, Singapore. Gotta be the safest city in the world.
"There is at least one HN account, used by at least one person, who claims to believe he went to Spain and did not get robbed."
The place is also fairly well known for robberies of tourists in rental cars on the way to and from the airport. We were cautioned about this and rented a car from the other side of town instead.
Anyone who doesn't look Spanish is likely to get pickpocketed on Las Ramblas. I've heard multiple stories and seen it myself despite having only visited a few times.
I wouldn't feel unsafe there, but the risk of getting robbed is very high.
Something tripped my alarm and I ripped the hand out of my pocket before I lost anything, that dude was gone in a flash, the other two urged me to go through the gates as I would lose my ticket.
Then I remembered the recommendation to swear angrily in Russian at them and came up with a few of those I knew and the other two took a hike very quickly. Apparently they are very afraid of Russian speaking people.
My grandpa lost consciousness and had to be taken to a nearby hospital.
After he woke up, he said the people around the incident just ignored them, even though he called for help. He said he got the impression that it must be an everyday occurrence.
Bastard ran up £3k in premium rate calls by the time I got back to the hotel to cancel it. Luckily I was refunded for those!
I'm surprised this is not common knowledge among people from there, maybe try 15-20 minutes people watching anywhere along Las Ramblas and see for yourself. Busy, sunny days with lots of people and police around are the best times to spot the thieves. You'll also frequently see tourist couples speaking to police reporting the robberies. You can watch the body language and gestures from a distance and it is very obvious.
Las Ramblas is a large interesting boulevard through the middle of town and is a lot of fun to see. However, in any location where there are tourists, there appear to be very talented pickpockets targeting them; be careful.
I'm an amateur (very amateur) magician so I was fascinated to see the street scams based on the classic shell game being performed openly on Las Ramblas, complete with confederates winning money etc.
*: more like I was looking in the exact direction but not actually seeing what was happening.
70% of French criminals are of Arab origin. Maybe Arabs are better behaved in the Arab world than they are in France?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1135...
Maybe it's because the French are really soft on prisoners. That Coulibaly guy was furious they confiscated his playstation. I doubt Morocco or Algeria would have ever allowed him one..