Like the leaders of their nation, they’ve understood the advantage of getting around on two wheels in a big city, rife with traffic and pollution and where parking is scarce. The growing number of riders forced the city to create parking spots just for them.

Today, most parking spots in Barcelona are reserved for motorcycles, and the city rigorously maintains its streets to make sure they’re safe for two-wheeled vehicles.

A GP in the city
But to manage to hold your own on a bike in Barcelona, you must have quite a bit of experience. It’s like a world cup race out there, and it’s every man for himself. The cars don’t give you any room to manoeuvre and you don’t have time to think. You have to react instantly and demonstrate quite a bit of dexterity to survive in this particular jungle.

If you’re not used to riding in heavy traffic, then you should simply refrain from doing so here. Barcelona will eat you alive, and you’ll wind up in the nearest emergency room where you’ll have to explain your misfortune in Spanish or, worse yet, Catalan.

Photo: Pascal Bastien/Moto123.com

The motorcycle is king
But if you think you can easily get around town by car, think again. You’re looking for an address and drove past it? You’ll have to circle around the area and try again, a complicated and frustrating operation given the hundreds of one-way streets, the no-left-turn intersections and the huge six-lane boulevards separated by not one, but two medians. Absolute bedlam.

However, this mess is a paradise for motorcyclists, who can stop wherever they please, even on the sidewalk, and have a look at their map or ask a pedestrian for directions. And it’s easy to double back too. You just hop off your bike, push it along the sidewalk or median and take off again in the opposite direction. And it’s just as easy to park in the many dedicated spots or even on the sidewalk in front of the shop you were looking for. And both the police and road users are perfectly tolerant of this.

An example we should follow
For motorcycle buffs living in Quebec, where you have to hibernate six months a year, where the scooter is considered a teenager’s moped, where the motorcycle in general is perceived as the black sheep of the auto industry and where the super sport bike is the devil’s own machine, Barcelona is a slice of heaven. Gracias, Barcelona!