The best bits of Girona weren’t the cycleable bits from what i remember, wandering round the little gardens that are all along the old walls. Great day out!
Yep, the Old Town area is a maze of tiny cobbled alleyways, steep steps up and down the hillside, the ruins of the old walls, tiny little squares dotted in amongst them. Beautiful city.
The main city area though is very cycle friendly, lots of pedestrianised bits and cycle lanes. As with most cities there are some busy routes through it and some horrible A-road type routes on the outskirts – we ended up on one by mistake coming back into town and it wasn’t far short of a motorway. At least the drivers were courteous but it was a couple of km of very unpleasant riding before we could escape and get onto the parallel quiet streets with nice wide cycle lanes!
Girona has a hire bike scheme but it’s like London’s Santander Cycles – short duration hops across town. There are several shops that do a good line in expensive road and gravel bikes, that scene has really exploded over there. Not sure about the “city/leisure e-bike” market.
And yes, sadly with the increase in the numbers of very expensive bikes being ridden around (and left unlocked outside cafes) there’s a burgeoning market in stealing them. 🙁
