Lived there for a while and I might move back - also still go there 3-4 times a year and bring a bike over when I do. I've seen cops yell at people for riding on busier roads in metro areas on more than a few occasions. A lot of the time they won't bother with foreign looking people because of the (potential) language barrier, but if it's bad enough they'll actually chase you down.

Narrow tires work fine. I beat the crap out of my road bikes and folding MTB going all over the place every weekend, and would take the train back from wherever I ended up when it was time to get home and go back to work. The one thing I really worried about are the narrow/deep uncovered gutters along some of the roads. It'd be nasty if you weren't paying attention at night and landed in one of em.