A package of cycling street photography from our holiday

Toni & I travelled from Australia for a 5-week holiday in Spain, Morocco and Portugal during June 2025, comprising an 18-day 'Inspiring Vacations' organised bus tour followed by two weeks on our own in Madrid, Burgos, Bilbao and Santander. During this time we took various photos of a range of cycling related-subjects & curiosities, in addition to countless shots of historic, cultural and scenic areas.

The cycling photos in this package are mainly of road/gravel cycling, cycle touring, commuting and cycleways subjects that came our way while walking the streets, either by ourselves or with the tour group, and sometimes from the tour bus.

I also took a few photos of motor scooters, as some cycling friends have one.

SPAIN

BARCELONA

While on walking & bus trips around the city (& others in Spain and Portugal) we saw lots of examples of how separated cycleways have been integrated into the road, sidewalk & park system - and saw numerous cyclists using them. Many were on docking station hire e-bikes. We didn't see many illegal fat-tyres e-bikes.

In Barcelona and all the cities we visited in Spain & Portugal we didn't see any dockless hire e-bikes - that is, of the kind left randomly on streets in central Sydney. The Spanish city authorities obviously haven't allowed that sort of chaos.

Bike shop passed on a guided walk (note that it says"F...K CARS" in the top left hand corner of the photo):

Interesting polka-dot motor scooter:

VALENCIA

Separated cycleway across a major bridge:

Cycleway through the linear park running through the city (the park was constructed after the river was permanently diverted following a major flood):

Nice cargo bike outside a cafe in the Colón Market in the Valencia old town (photo by Toni):

MOROCCO

RABAT (the capital city)

Gardener near the Royal Palace with his trike (photo by Toni):

MARRAKECH

Loaded touring bike, that I caught from the other side of the street (the cycle tourist was in a shop at the time - he was the only one we saw in Morocco):

ATLAS MOUNTAINS

Road biker on his way through very hilly country (photo by Toni, from the bus):

BOUMAINE DADES

Vintage touring moto (one of several historic motos in our hotel foyer):

Toni with the touring moto:

ERFOUD

Local cyclist (photo by Toni, from the bus):

SAHARA DESERT (on side trip from Erfoud)

A mountain bike in a remote desert location, Er-Rissani, near the edge of the Sahara sand hills - see 2nd photo below (photos by Toni):

AZROU

Another of the few road cyclists we saw on our travels in Morocco, in a remote location and wearing a Gerolsteiner jersey (photo by Toni, from the bus):

MISCLIFFEN - IFRANE NATIONAL PARK

Another rider out in a remote area, but not around as we went by in the bus (photo by Toni):

FES

A couple of road bike riders, a rare sight for us in a Moroccan urban area (photo by Toni, from bus):

West of FES

We were very surprised to find thin bike lanes on a major highway west of Fes (photos taken from the bus):

SPAIN

SEVILLE

Hybrid bike with an interesting "Boomerang" brand name (I also saw one of these bikes in Santander, in Northern Spain):

A "walk your bike / scooter" sign that seemed to be respected, in a heavily pedestrianised area (where motor vehicles were not allowed):

Shop offering bike rentals and organised tours of the city:

Attractively-decorated bike near our hotel:

Cycleway beside the Guadalquivir River:

Urban cycleway:

Sign next to the riverside cycleway promoting the "Ruta Via de la Plata" - a long distance walking & cycling trail in the west of Spain:

The trail runs between Gijon on the north coast & Seville in the south:

PORTUGAL

FARO (Algarve region, Southern Portugal)

A group of road cyclists briefly stopped while passing through this coastal city:

LISBON (historic Belém area)

Distinctive e-bikes used by a group on an organised tour of the area:

Cycleway through Belém:

Another group on a city tour:

Docked hire e-bikes:

Interesting decoration beside a drink kiosk:

A rather less attractive colour used on this decoration, noticed near our hotel:

SPAIN

MADRID

Historic 'B H & Condor' Zaragoza bike shop advert, noticed on an art poster in Madrid - the words at the top seem to translate as "the bicycle has no limits":

A group of road cyclists taking on refreshments near the Lago ('Lake') area:

Bike lane sign ('cyclocarril') in the Lago area, west of the Madrid city centre:

Another bike lane sign, in the Lago area heading towards the Manzanares River:

Shopfront of a city bike rental & tour company:

'Calmera' bike shop, not far from our hotel:

The shop is packed with goodies:

Calmera also have a motor scooter shop a short distance away:

Central Madrid 'walk your bike' sign - the sign says "Pedestrian Zone / with high pedestrian density":

Another sign on the cycle & pedestrian path running alongside the Manzanares River - this one is headed "Bike Path" and below the speeding cyclist image with the cross through it says "Pedestrian Priority":

TOLEDO

Sculpture of Frederico Bahamontes ('The Eagle of Toledo'), who was the first Spaniard to win the Tour de France, in 1959 (he also finished 2nd & 3rd in other years, and won 7 Tour stages):

Bahamontes in action:

BURGOS

We saw many touring cyclists & hikers, as Burgos is on the 800km 'Camino de Santiago de Compostela Frances' pilgrims walking & cycling trail (the most popular route):

The backpack & hiking sticks of a walker pilgrim, outside a cafe:

The menu poster outside the cafe:

We walked the route of the Camino through Burgos, following directional 'scallop shell' symbols - this type is bedded at regular intervals in a long pedestrianised street:

And this one on the edge of a building, near a corner:

Accommodation for pilgrims:

Burgos province is also a destination for road cycling - this is a shot of a group outside the railway station preparing for a ride, after unloading their bikes from a van (we had just got off the train from Madrid):

The promo for the Burgos province that we watched in the tourist office included a segment on road cycling - here are 3 stills that I managed to snap:

The Arlanzón River cycleway, next to topiary trees

City separated cycleway:

Big(ish) guy, very small wheels:

Interesting colour scheme (it's plastic tape):

English guy at the bus station with shrink-wrapped bike (maybe the bus company required this before they would allow it be put in the luggage hold):

BILBAO

'Cover of 'Bike Spirit' booklet issued by the Tourist Office, partly reflecting that the 2023 Tour de France commenced in Bilbao & the Basque region:

Schematic showing the first 3 stages of the 2023 Tour, held in the Basque region (stage 3 finished in France):

Extract from the 'Bike Spirit' booklet on cycle touring in the Basque region:

Huge number of docked hire e-bikes near a major city centre plaza:

Nearly empty hire bike stand in a tourist area - we watched from a nearby bar while the bikes were constantly being hired:

Teenagers on hire e-bikes - no fat-tyred illegal e-bikes here:

Separated city cycleway:

Separated cycleway on both sides of a major bridge:

The separated cycleway the bridge extends to and around a roundabout:

Cyclists seem to share this main thoroughfare with buses and taxis:

This bilingual sign (Spanish & Basque) seems to say: "Walk your bike on the sidewalk":

Another 'walk your bike sign' - this time in relation to a major pedestrian footbridge across the Nervión River:

We took the funicular train up the very steep incline to a ridge high above Bilbao, where there were great views of the city - and from which downhill mountain bikers were launching onto the trails down the hill:

SANTANDER (Northern Spain, on the coast):

As with all the major cities we visited in Spain & Portugal, Santander has a good cycleways network - the heading above the cycleways map translates as follows - "Santander moves by bike. Use your bike for your commute and get around in a healthy and safe way":

I found the cycleways map via the QR code on this bicycle counter near the very popular El Sardinero Beach (see later photos), which shows that 393 bike riders had passed by so far that day (but the figure for the year to date is missing):

This e-bike hire station was nearby:

The text on top of the sign next to the station translates as follows - "your city, your rhythm, your e-bike":

Commuting to the city centre is also encouraged by the provision of undercover bike parking facilities of varying size, accessed via an app:

Bike parking symbol on smaller undercover bike parking facilities like the one above:

This is a somewhat larger undercover bike parking facility near the two railway stations:

Other bike parking facilities out in the open come with a prominent sign to highlight their location:

Shared path, with pedestrian priority, through a 300m tunnel (Pompo) under the large hill between the old town & the El Sardinero beach area (originally built for a railway) - the sign specifies that pedestrians have priority:

The El Sardinero Beaches in Santander are very accessible from the adjacent cycleways:

On the 3-day weekend we were in Santander the El Sandinero beach was very crowded - actually 2 beaches form a very long one at low tide, when people like to walk from one end to the other:

MADRID (again)

And finally, on the train to Madrid Airport we saw an American couple with their bike boxes - we were very jealous that they'd been riding their bikes in Spain - the cycling street photography side project amounted to a cycling tour of sorts in our quick trip around Spain / Morocco / Portugal, but we hadn't ridden a bike in the 5 weeks we were there !