Barcelona

Barcelona. This post is about what I saw in Barcelona and a bit of a conclusion of my trip. I was able to spend six lovely days in Barcelona, taking side trips to smaller towns within Catalonia. I, unfortunately, did not have a chance to ride a bike, which is a bummer. But also, mainly because I just did not feel comfortable riding a bike in the area, I was staying in. There were bike lanes in some parts of the city but were not consistent like in Denmark and the Netherlands. The newer part of the city that my friend was located in was way more bike-friendly. The area is known as El Poblenou was a neighborhood that took shape after the Olympics home of Torre Agbar, a tower that has drawn in controversy over its design and similarities of the Gherkin in London. The area was very reminiscent of San Francisco’s Mission Street but instead of car lanes and bus lanes, there was a center lane devoted to pedestrians and with bicycle lanes either side. This design made pedestrians and bicycles the priority of the street. Outside of the pedestrian zone were light rail stations and then two car lanes and a dedicated bus lane. There were many street trees lining either side to make it more people-friendly and slow traffic. Walking here felt so lovely and never felt threatened by a vehicle. There were benches as well, so one could sit, and people watch. Here is a photo of the main street and of a street that branches off the main street.

In general, the streets of Barcelona were wide, with plenty of room for walking. This made it very easy to walk everywhere. Another factor why I did not ride a bike was because of the Metro. The Barcelona Metro was something I was continually using to get from one side of the city to the other. Being only a minute walk from my hotel room allowed me to hop on and get anywhere within fifteen minutes. Here are somethings that I noticed from taking the metro. Prepare to sweat, the temperature underground was similar to Madrid. Humid and hot. The second I would get into the metro car I was blasted by the humming AC. Once inside, the car is teaming with conversations and fans going back and forth. It seemed like this was the place to spill gossip in the city, everyone chatting one another or on their phones, raising voices and laughing. It was lively, I think being around all these people also drove me to take the metro, the people watching was prime, and there was air conditioning. I did witness people bringing their bikes on to the metro, I found out there isn’t a surcharge to bring a bike, but most of the time it was full, and the individual with the bike would have to wait for the next one.

Traveling outside of Barcelona, I found I would take the highspeed trains, regional trains, and busses. The trains were always on time, no delays. Mountain biking is a popular sport, so a lot of the time there were many bikes on the trains, this wasn’t something I was expecting but happy to see. The regional trains had dedicated spaces to store bikes, the highspeed trains not really, but you could store in the luggage car if need be. The busses, on the other hand, were not very excepting of bikes. The busses I took were more like the tour buses that don’t have storage for bikes. When we took a bus to Costa Brava, the driver turned a couple away because there wasn’t room in the seating area, and the storage under the bus wasn’t made to haul bikes. This was unfortunate.

Finishing up this trip, I felt a mix of emotions; happy, sad, anger, confusion, and misplaced. Going on this trip was an eye-opener for me once again, but this time, something was different. This time I felt that I indeed found a place to be and a standard to hold myself too.  This trip allowed me to put everything happening around me in the States and to fully invest my time learning about bicycles as well as other forms of transportation. Being able to interact with these systems has given me new perspectives. Given me a moment to think about what I really care about and what I want to focus on.

My next adventure happens in twenty-two days, moving to Los Angeles. This is a new chapter in my book. My journey is only beginning, and I feel like it is worth sharing. This blog has given me a unique voice, one that I didn’t know I possessed. It has given me an outlet, that hasn’t been interrupted, as well as a way to express myself differently. I hope to someday come back to these entries and say to myself, you did it. But until then it has just begun. And I am happy to share it with you. https://chiptips.org

-Chip

Here are some photos from all over.

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