One gun, 45 prisoners and 1,700km of tunnels. A few meters underground there is a labyrinthine and unknown city. They are the sewers of Barcelona, and yes, we have gone to visit themto visit them.
No signs, no emergency exit indicators, it is better not to get lost in the sewers of the city. Down here you can’t use Google Maps to find out where you are, and the few plaques with street nomenclatures are only there to decorate the visitable corridors. The operators say that it is better not to help prisoners and terrorists to find their way through the subway city and thus avoid events such as those of 1978, when 45 prisoners escaped of the Model through the sewage system.
A few meters from the terrace of a bar at the intersection of Passeig Sant Joan with Carrer València you can access the sewers of the city. Next door, customers are having breakfast or a beer and some bravas, but it doesn’t matter, because hunger is suddenly cut off when the doors open barcelona’s subsoil.
A visit full of tunnels and subway crossings
First, we put on helmets and gloves and, crouching down, we went down some stairs and through a dimly lit tunnel, claustrophobic, which fortunately was not very long.
Once downstairs, the corridors and crossings widen . There are rapids, as in rivers, bridges and large watercourses. The visitable Zone, however, is quieter, the turbulent waters can only be seen from a distance and the rats and brown water flow quietly down narrower channels away from us.
Barcelona Cicle de l’Aigua, S.A., Barcelona City Council
During the visit, the operators say that, although years ago they found a gun “from someone who would do something bad,” it is more common to see wipes and sanitary napkin caps. No corpses, no bloody weapons. These visits, which are free and open to the public, do not aim to show morbid tours of Barcelona’s subsoil, but rather to raise awareness of the city’s water cycle.
In a Barcelona that has more than 1,700km of sewer tunnels and where every building is connected to this network, any wipe we throw in the toilet, or cigarette butt we throw down a sewer, has repercussions in the subsoil.
It may not seem like it, but our actions affect the sewage system more than we think, clogging it and causing bad odors in the city.
Source: Shutterstock
After an hour underground, we emerged back to the surface through the same narrow passageway we entered. There we found again the same terraces that we saw before entering, reminding us that the Barcelona of the surface and the Barcelona of the underground never cease to function independently of each other.
If you want to immerse yourself in an unknown and secret Barcelona, you can visit the sewer network by booking through the la fàbrica del Sol website, as it is an activity open to all citizens.
📍Passeig Sant Joan, 91
💸 Free