Girona

This past weekend Claire, Rachel and I went to Girona for the day. Girona is just outside of Barcelona about an hour and a half inland by train. We got there at about 10am, and without having brought a tour book or map, we decided simply to wander. The layout of Girona looks similar to that of Barcelona, except about one third the size. The town is situated throughout rolling hills, and apart from the town center, the homes are gently scattered into the greenery. When we were there, the weather was gloomy, and rained most of the day. Also, we went on a Sunday, so nothing was open but places to eat. We first found a plaza in the center, surrounded by an open corridor lined with cafes. We chose the most inviting one and sat down for some cafe con leche while we people watched and waited for more stores to open at about 11. Then we continued walking throughout narrow ancient streets, jumping from overhang to overhang to stay somewhat dry, and window shopping into the delectable patisserie displays. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of the streets:

Then, as we continued walking we found a cute little book fair with old American classics translated to Spanish and Catalan.

On the other side of the plaza here, there is a bridge that leads over to the even older part of the city, where you find the cathedral, and the castle behind. Here is a view from the bridge, across the very low water level to the painted houses.

The first tourist sight that we saw was the Arab baths, which we paid our 2 euro each to go see. It was literally a room with one bath thing, and that was it. But, then we could walk onto the roof, where we got a cool view over the buildings.

Then this building marked the beginning of the castle, which was simple stunning (an the cute alleyways on either side).

I really don't think a ton of money is put into the tourist industry here, because although there are regularly a lot of visitors, none of the landmarks or historical buildings are really marked or explained at all. I will say it was nice to be able to show myself around this incredible castle without being rubbing elbows with 100 other tourists, it would have been nice to know a little bit about what I was looking at, and who's house I was climbing all over. We explored the castle for a while, which was really overgrown with plants, and completely unrestored, but stunning because of that, and provided amazing views from the top over the entire town. Here are some photos:

Then, we walked back down into the city, walked by the cathedral, which was in high mass at the time, and back down to another cafe.

We went back to the same cafe that we were at before to hit up the Menu del Dia which was a sandwich an a soda and coffee. Then we headed towards a dense patch a trees we saw on the edge of the town. There was a carnival in town, and a line of kids and their parents stood in line waiting for it open. We continued into the line of trees, which towered up above.

Girona was small and quaint and provided for a great day of wandering and exploring. The views were spectacular, and the fall colors were beautiful. In keeping with the small town theme, I have organized a trip for this weekend, that I am going on with 5 other girls. I was looking in my tour book and found a really tiny town called Veihla up in the Pyrenees. There is a river that runs right through the town, and is surrounded by mountains. The town is the capital of the d'Aran valley, and they even have their own language, Aranese. We are taking a 5 hour bus ride there at the crack of dawn on Friday, and coming home on Sunday night. We are staying in a little hotel with a room for 6 people equipped with a full kitchen and dining room. I am so excited to be in an extremely small, geographically isolated town surrounded by nature, and good company. The town is mostly known for a place to stay to go to the surrounding ski resorts, but now, a month or so before the snow, it is the best time to enjoy the huge variety of hiking trails, which we intend to do. I will blog next when I get home from the trip, assuredly with great pictures and stories!