The culture point was a shocking one for me. I spent a week in Barcelona and you had to spend money to do pretty much anything, and if you've not pre-booked it's likely that you won't be doing what you want to do until at least tomorrow.
It sounds like you really didn't try because there are things on literally every weekend for free or low cost.
Everything from free or lowcost music festivals, to street parties, to lighting installations in the park. And thats just been the last 3 weeks in a very small radius. Theres also free museums and music gigs are incredibly good value.
Plus the beach is free, the mountains are free, walking around Montjuic is free.
That's no different to any other major European city. The difference was that in Barcelona you had to have pre-booked, otherwise things that usually aren't ticketed in cities like Amsterdam or London like parks aren't fully accessible to you.
We still had a lovely time, but when you've got limited time in a place it's worth noting that you need to book things before you go. People that like to set plans to see certain things at certain times might find themselves disappointed, even if they were happy to pay a bit extra to book on the day.
