LIVING

Still, Barcelona remains a good town for tattoo sightings, with warm days throughout the year bringing out Celtic crosses stamped on triceps, angel wings spanning shoulder blades, pin-up girls draped down thighs, tiny names hidden on ankle bones, calligraphic bar-code coiling around lower backs and roses, many roses. It seems that when it comes to tattoos, anything goes.

But unlike piercings, hair colouring or haute couture shopping, tattoos are forever, unless the expensive and painful process of removal is undergone. So who are the people who sport tattoos and why do they get them?

Natasha Robbins, a stunning Argentine-Costa Rican woman, is covered from ear to toe in dragons, lizards, flowers, skulls, tribal patterns and oriental symbols. “I had a rough childhood and I started young,” she said. “I liked the attention. It was also a way for me to believe in myself. A way to believe I could do anything I want. Now, that I am older, I don’t like the attention so much, but I do get a lot of modeling work.

“I still love them as much as always and don’t regret a thing. Yes, I will probably get more, or at least touch up the older ones. My husband loves them. They have a kind of a personal history for me; I know exactly where I was and what I was going through when I look at each one. Painful? No, not really, just keep them clean and get them from a good place.”

Gareth Jones, a Welshman living in Barcelona, has three simple tattoos. His philosophy is more straightforward. “I got one because I like it, nothing more, nothing less. I thought about it for a long time, and then just did it. The one I got last summer is a little more personal. Shall I say spiritual? It’s related to my Kundalini yoga practice.”

Would he get another? He smiled. “Of course, why not? But they’re not cheap, and you get what you pay for.”

The smallest and least expensive tattoo in Barcelona takes 15 minutes and costs about €30-€45. This price can go up to €400 per hour depending on the design and the artist’s reputation. A full shoulder tattoo can take up to three hours. To remove it, multiply the cost—and pain—by three.