Following a split from her marriage, a woman left her work to explore a new life in her dream location, sunny Spain — a holiday favourite by Brits. However, she now feels that angry protestors against waves of tourists have made her give up her dreams of a new start. Karolina Wachowicz claims Spanish locals believe “foreigners [are] taking over” their beloved cities, with Barcelona being a leading city in anti-tourism protests.
Planning to move after she felt “lost and overwhelmed by work,” after splitting from her ex-husband, Karolina, 35, began to plan for a new future full of sandy beaches and summer sun. She shared that her choice of Gaudi’s city was due its cheap prices and low living costs.
She added that, over time, the idea of the move solidified, coming to symbolise her returning to herself. She said: “It was easier for me to be myself in Spain, and I was simply happier there”. But upon moving, Karolina was met with the difficulty of having to restart her life, no longer having her friends, her job, or even knowing the language.
Unable to communicate with locals, the migrant’s employment contract finally arrived, allowing her to rent property in Barcelona — just before COVID lockdowns hit. Unphased, the expat stated: “I decided to stay and focus on my work”. A few years on, the woman purchased an apartment in spite of warnings from friends, saying: “My friends called [it] reckless – I bought an apartment with a mortgage“.
Spaniards asked Karolina how she would deal with a mortgage whilst still not knowing Spanish, but she was firm in her belief that a permanent life in Barcelona was “the right decision. I felt it was a step towards stability and truly feeling at home here,” she explained. This welcome did not last long however, as anti-tourism protests began in 2022, reaching an all-time high this summer in 2025.
Barcelona’s streets became a collage of campaign posters and graffiti, with visitors made victim by water pistols in one case, reports Jam Press. Even with years established in the city she now called home, Karolina began to feel set apart from local residents, sharing that her visiting friends “were not always welcome” and “were repeatedly called ‘guiri’,” a slur which targeted tourists and foreign residents.
Unfortunate for Karolina, she described how those who stand out “because of their appearance immediately draw attention and unfriendly looks. In my building, the owners were only Catalan; I was the only foreigner,” disecting the racial divide. “They wouldn’t add me to the community WhatsApp group and did not always inform or consult with me about building and community matters,” she concluded. The results of Barcelona‘s anti-tourism and migrancy protests follow Britain’s own divide over immigration and recent anti-immigrant protests.