Electric Scooters in Madrid, May 31, 2021. Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain. Pre-Post COVID Road Warrior Adventure.

 

* * * * * 

 

One of the most popular electric scooter rental companies in Spain is called Bird.  Here are two scooters left on the Cava Baja street in old Madrid.  They can be ridden by anyone with an active Bird account.

Electric scooters have become the rage in metropolitan areas of Spain. You can pick a scooter about anywhere, since they are usually abandoned by the last user wherever his or her destination was. You can obtain a scooter by signing up with credit card with a scooter rental company, then activate your scooter via your mobile phone.

 

Click on title to see entire post.

These things are obviously risky, especially for those who are totally agile, plus, if you value your brains and wish to keep them in their customary container, you should wear a helmet when riding these things. They are very convenient for getting through traffic (and not paying big fees for parking garages for a car, but the risk of riding 20 miles an hour through downtown Madrid traffic are substantial.

As you can see from the following rules, you are forbidden from riding these scooters down the sidewalks, through tunnels, on roads and motorways outside cities and while drunk and wearing headphones.

 

A Bird scooter left on a street in Madrid.  

(Despite the Jonny's Candy Shop awning, this is Madrid.)

 

From CarInsuranceSpain.es

 

The traffic law was reformed on Tuesday 9 November 2020 although the new rules take effect on 2nd January 2021.

Electric scooters must circulate on the road. They cannot be ridden on pavement or pedestrianised areas including pedestrain and zebra crossings.

You cannot ride an electric scooter in Spain on roads between urban areas. Not unsurprisingly you cannot ride an electric scooter on a motorway either. In addition, you cannot ride your electric scooter through any tunnel.

The user of an electric scooter in Spain can be asked to take a breathalyser test by the road traffic authorities.

It is not permitted to use headphones will using an electric scooter.  (You will be fined €200.)

An electric scooter will need to have a certificate of circulation like other vehicles. The document must specify the technical characteristics of the electric scooter which in turn must be approved by the DGT. This will be a legal requirement within 24 months. --

Electric scooters have become the rage in metropolitan areas of Spain. You can pick a scooter about anywhere, since they are usually abandoned by the last user wherever his or her destination was. You can obtain a scooter by signing up with credit card with a scooter rental company, then activate your scooter via your mobile phone.

These things are obviously risky, especially for those who are totally agile, plus, if you value your brain container, you should wear a helmet when riding these things. They are very convenient for getting through traffic (and not paying big fees for parking garages for a car, but the risk of riding 20 miles an hour through downtown Madrid traffic are substantial.

Comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Text and photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes©2021.  Using photographs without crediting Gerry Dawes©2021 on Facebook.  Publication without my written permission is not authorized.

* * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

 

Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,

in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.

 _______________________________________________________

 

In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

 
About Gerry Dawes

My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019

Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)

Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. 

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 

Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com