If you've visited Barcelona recently, you'll have seen the signs — literally. "Tourists go home" sprayed on walls. Water pistols aimed at diners on La Rambla. Protests blocking cruise ship passengers. It's not just Barcelona: Malaga, Venice, Athens, Lisbon — across Southern Europe, the backlash against mass tourism is intensifying.

And it's reaching Girona too.

Graffiti on the Walls

Walk through certain parts of Girona's old town and you'll spot the messages: "stop tourism", "guiri go home", "bikers go home". "Guiri" is the Spanish slang for foreign tourist — not exactly a term of endearment. It's a word that's been around for decades, but it's being deployed with increasing anger.

The "bikers go home" graffiti speaks to a specific Girona phenomenon. The city has been a magnet for professional and amateur cyclists ever since Lance Armstrong based himself here in the 1990s. The rolling hills, quiet roads, and Mediterranean climate make it a cyclist's paradise. Today, thousands of foreign cyclists train here year-round, and there's a whole ecosystem of bike shops, cafés, and rental services catering to them.

The Integration Question

The complaint isn't really about cycling. It's about integration — or the lack of it. Many foreign cyclists (and expats more broadly) live in their own bubble. They frequent the same cafés, socialise with each other, and make little effort to learn Catalan or even Spanish. They push up property prices and rents without contributing much to the social fabric of the city.

Sound familiar? It's the same story playing out across Southern Europe wherever wealthy Northern Europeans settle. The locals can't afford to live in their own city centres, while the newcomers enjoy a lifestyle that would cost them three times as much back home.

A Balanced View

It's easy to be sympathetic to both sides. Tourism and foreign investment bring money, jobs, and cultural exchange. Girona's restaurants, hotels, and shops benefit enormously from the visitor economy. The Game of Thrones effect alone brought a measurable spike in hotel bookings and restaurant covers.

But when tourism tips from enriching a place to overwhelming it, something has to give. When a local family can't find a rental because every apartment is on Airbnb, or when the character of a neighbourhood changes because it's been entirely redesigned for tourist consumption, the frustration is understandable.

The question isn't whether tourism is good or bad — it's how much is too much, and who gets to decide.

Girona is still a long way from Barcelona levels of saturation. It remains a genuinely liveable city where tourists and locals mostly coexist happily. But the graffiti on the walls is a warning sign. The conversation about sustainable tourism, affordable housing, and community integration isn't going away. If anything, it's just getting started.

As someone who lives here, I think the answer lies in being a good guest. Learn some Catalan. Shop at the local market. Eat where the locals eat. Be part of the community, not just a consumer of it. Girona is generous to those who respect it.