Activists Offer Protest Tour Of Spain's Modern Ruins
"There [are] a lot of people in European countries, especially England and Germany [who] put a lot of money into our economy," says Gil. "They are interested to know where ... is the money. And we go to show you where there isn't the money — at the public schools, at the hospitals."
The bus tour cruises past Valencia's unfinished construction projects, such as a half-built soccer stadium. The city has witnessed an extreme reversal of fortune, with posh but empty buildings standing as sad sentinels at the mouth of Valencia's Mediterranean port, which once hosted the America's Cup sailing race.
Plenty Of White Elephants
These are Spain's "white elephants," public infrastructure projects that gobbled up billions in taxpayer money and whose upkeep is now bankrupting the economy.
Most prominent among them, in Valencia, is the City of Arts and Sciences, a massive museum complex, which cost more than $1.5 billion to construct.
More On Spain
World
Spain's Strapped Towns Look To Churches For Cash