Hasta Luego Spain!

I’m in Girona this morning writing from a cafe that looks out over the Onyar river, which runs right through the city.

Girona is a popular destination for cyclists due to its proximity to great training routes on the nearby Pyrenees foothills as well as a local airport. This place is crawling with trim men on 10k road bicycles. I spent a while walking into several expensive boutique bike stores admiring all the high end bike equipment (proud that I didn’t buy anything!).

Independence Plaza, Girona. As is common in most Spanish cities, amazing public spaces filled with life.
A typical street in old town Girona

A few days ago I was in Barcelona, my favorite city in Spain. I spent 2 days there (I also spent a week there a few years ago). I love how dense and easy it is to get around. There are people everywhere and the weather is very comfortable.

Nice bikes locked up overnight, unconcerned about theft.
Protected bike lanes throughout the city.
Clean and fast subway cars.
Kids playing soccer in a plaza in the middle of a roundabout.
Just look at these benches!

I just love how much investment has been made on public spaces in Barcelona. Instead of everyone having yards that are hardly used, beautiful outdoor space is shared and used heavily.

Arc de Triumph
La Sagrada Familia
The buildings are all about 6-10 stories tall, mostly residential with a good mixture of architectural styles.

A few years ago my friend Jeff suggested comparing city budgets between cities. The annual budget for Barcelona is $3.07B with 1.6M people = $2,558/capita. The annual budget for San Francisco is $13.7B with 874K people = $15,675/capita.

This goes against a notion that I absorbed growing up: Europe has high taxes and lower quality of life. In Barcelona at least, based on what I value, I don’t think that’s true.

Tomorrow I’ll begin to ride west to Biarritz, France to see my friend Mika. I’m a bit nervous about it because I’ll be riding through the Pyrenees mountains with a loaded bicycle. My cycling buddy David helped by reaching out to his cycling network (he traveled here for a few weeks) here in Girona. I received great tips from 4 local riders which has given me the confidence I need. Now I feel ready for a change of scenery and up for the challenge.