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I have only been to Amsterdam and the airport in the Netherlands, it was a while ago, but no way did Amsterdam have a better infrastructure for bicycles 10 year

by yawaworht1978 5y ago

I have only been to Amsterdam and the airport in the Netherlands, it was a while ago, but no way did Amsterdam have a better infrastructure for bicycles 10 years ago than Barcelona has today. I could be wrong, but the main streets didn't have the nice two way lanes like in Barcelona and the red light, coffee shop district is similar to cuidad vella and Raval, both in spirit and infrastructure, both are not optimal for anything. I heard Denmark is on a high level too and maybe the Netherlands as a whole are much better. It has to be said that Barcelona is an exemption, Madrid and other cities don't even come close, apart from some few very rich pueblos on the coast. At least in Barcelona you can use the main roads to get tangentially near your desired destination and from there it's a bit less luxurious. I agree that left turning cars are very dangerous for more vulnerable vehicles. For example , to turn left , you have to get to the proper lane in time(not so easy, many people report map applications to have notorious delays in parts on the city), then check for ongoing traffic, sometimes the innermost are bicycles, then cars, then another lane plus pedestrians with no regards to red light green light rules. It's also true that the lanes are often interrupted by other rather large streets etc. But overall, it's a breeze going from one of the big parks to Barceloneta. Big negative point is in summer, it's no fun, the heat can be horrible, and if you are on a red light next to a bus, the fumes and other car emissions are in your face and the temperature feels like it jumped 10 deg Celsius within 3 seconds. To clarify, I am sure there are better small cities in that regard, I only tried to say Barcelona has the best solutions compared to other large cities. The negative point of course is, it's downright hostile to car drivers, some people enjoy driving a car(I don't ever own a car unless I live in a remote area).

GekkePrutser 5y ago
The centre of Asterdam is an exception though. It's a bit of a tourist fair now, the same way the old town and Ramblas areas are here. Especially the red light district is more like an open air museum than a real city :) Yeah some 'real' people live there but it's mainly students that live there for a short time and like the novelty. The area is just highly constrained by the canals and even as a car driver it's a nightmare to go there. It's a maze of one-way streets, closures and blocks etc. Not representative of a typical Dutch city at all. Nor comparable to Barcelona which has wide streets (ciutad vella etc excluded of course) All other Dutch cities are very different (except perhaps for a tiny area in the center). Much more boring too though. Mostly new buildings. But don't consider Amsterdam (the centre at least) as a measure for the rest of the Netherlands, they're very different things :)

GekkePrutser 5y ago

The centre of Asterdam is an exception though. It's a bit of a tourist fair now, the same way the old town and Ramblas areas are here. Especially the red light district is more like an open air museum than a real city :) Yeah some 'real' people live there but it's mainly students that live there for a short time and like the novelty. The area is just highly constrained by the canals and even as a car driver it's a nightmare to go there. It's a maze of one-way streets, closures and blocks etc. Not representative of a typical Dutch city at all. Nor comparable to Barcelona which has wide streets (ciutad vella etc excluded of course) All other Dutch cities are very different (except perhaps for a tiny area in the center). Much more boring too though. Mostly new buildings. But don't consider Amsterdam (the centre at least) as a measure for the rest of the Netherlands, they're very different things :)