Monday, September 14th - Girona, Spain

I was down for breakfast at 8 a.m. when it opened and thought I'd be the only one there since it's always busy later.  However, there was a bus tour or two already there so it was very crowded and busy.  I managed to grab something and still make it to the train station by 8:45 to buy a ticket and catch the 9 am train to Girona.

Girona is about an hour north west of Pineda de Mar.  The train follows the coast for a while and then turns inland.  The coast was of course beautiful with long sandy beaches on the Mediterranean to the right and small, almost continuous towns inland on the left.   

At Blanes we left the coast and moved inward and the countryside was still beautiful.  There were lush green fields with all kinds of crops from corn and hay to green onions, cabbages and tomatoes.  There were also orange groves and some vineyards.  Beyond the flatter fields near the rail line there were rolling hills and eventually higher hills or mountains beyond that - perhaps the early foothills of the Pyrenees.  There was irrigation in place in the fields, both ditches/canals and sprays.  In some places, especially closer to Girona, there were just forests and they looked very thick with green growth at all height levels.  They almost looked tropical, which was certainly a change from the rest of Spain which has been very dry and arid.

Once in Girona I waited with some other people for the little tourist train to arrive to give us a tour around the new and old city before we actually started walking.  The train was a few minutes late so we were beginning to wonder if it was coming.  When he arrived he wouldn't sell us tickets until he explained that he couldn't do his usual route and would just be going around the outside of the old city.  The reason for this was that  much of the old city was closed today because they were filming Game of Thrones.  I wasn't impressed with that since I could have come on any day of the week but then he added that it would be closed most of the week.  Darn!

I decided to take the train but in retrospect it really wasn't worth it.  In the time we waited for the train I could have walked to the place where I got off the train.  And he had to go so far out of his way that there was not much to see for most of the journey.  And of course we couldn't use the audio guides because they weren't following this route so we didn't have any commentary about what we were seeing.  Oh well, it was only a few bucks and I did see more of Girona than I might otherwise have seen.  It just wasn't what I wanted to see.

He dropped us off at the Pont de Pedro, one of the many bridges over the River Onyar. The river actually became my way of locating where I was on both the train journey and my walking adventure.  By the nearest bridges (pedestrian, rail, car) I could generally identify my location.  

The tourist office was nearby so I decided to start there and see what parts were really closed for filming.  The girl was very helpful and crossed out the sections on the ma that were not accessible.  Apparently they are only filming until Wednesday this week and the film crew actually has to be quite punctual on their timetable.  The tourist people had the whole schedule by hour almost but, regardless of where they were at any particular point in time, the main old town area was closed.  That meant that access to the cathedral, some of the Jewish Quarter, and the 12th century Arab Baths was totally cut out.  Those were some of the main things I wanted to see.  She suggested that I start by going to the old city wall and said I'd know when I couldn't go any further because they would have it all blocked off, so the city walls are where I started.

  

The first wall was built by the Romans in the 1st century.  It was changed many times but really enhanced in the 14th century by Peter III the Ceremonious.  His new, bigger, better fortifications were built on top of the Roman wall foundations and much of the wall and its towers is still intact.  The part I was on was the longest stretch and it went for quite a ways.  First you had to climb about four floors to get on it and then you kept climbing between towers and even at towers to get the best views.  It snaked along through the city, separating old from new, and went up and down as the hills and valleys in the landscape changed but mainly up.  They way it snaked around and could be seen for some distance, it reminded me of the Great Wall of China actually - just in miniature.

At the highest point in the round tower nearer the cathedral, you could see all around the city and off to the mountains in the distance.  Unfortunately, because we didn't know where they were going to close access to the wall, I kept taking pictures at every stop just in case, and I think I ended up with about 200 pictures, mainly of them of the same thing (generally the cathedral) but just from different heights and angles.  It's definitely a good thing we have digital cameras these days.

 

Eventually the barricades and security appeared and it was time to head down from the wall and into the city.  At this point we were basically behind and to the north of the cathedral.  At least I think it was to the north.  Holding the map it looks like the west but they don't really worry about putting the north at the top of the page.  We've run into that a couple of times when walking around towns in Spain and thinking we must be going the wrong direction because the sun was in the wrong place.  Then we discovered that north was not the top of the map and everything was fine.

Anyway, that means that I did manage to do most of the old city wall - probably over 80% of it - so that was pretty good.  The only parts we really couldn't get by were immediately beside and to the front of the cathedral, and the Arab baths.

I walked behind and down the south side of the cathedral and into the Jewish Quarter.  The narrow windy streets were amazing, and almost all of them involved stairs.  Cars were on very few of these streets as they were too narrow and steep so it was nice walking around the pedestrian zones and getting lost, which I did several times.  However, as soon as I could find the river again I was okay.

I went into St. Feliu Church from the 14th century with 18th century upgrades.  The exterior was a light stone Gothic but very plain for Gothic.  The interior was light in colour too with brick columns and high arches and windows.  The main altar of golden carvings is very nice and a big contrast to the light walls.  There is one side chapel, I think to St. Narcissus, with a high dome ceiling painted in a colourful fresco.  The rest of the room is brick in a pattern of beige and grey that looks more like marble than brick and creates fake columns.  

I walked over to St. Pere de Galligants, part of a 12th century Benedictine monastery and now a museum, but the man there was busy talking on his phone and just shut his door when I appeared.  I thought that was rather rude but I now think he was just the caretaker or something and didn't want to be bothered.  Apparently the museums in Girona are all closed on Mondays so I couldn't have gone in anyway.

i did get into the Museum of Jewish History though.  They were open and they were the ones that said all other museums were closed on Mondays.  This museum was not at all what I expected.  It was right in the Jewish Quarter and that was one of the places I was told I had to go.  I expected this museum, like all others in Europe, to talk about the holocaust but there was no mention of it.  This one was about the Spanish Inquisition, something I had totally forgotten about since I learned it back in school half a century ago.  (Isn't that a scary thought!!!) 

The museum is built on the ruins of old Jewish buildings and the basement and lower floors have many archeological ruins in them and there are artifacts and tombstones in other ares.  The first floor talked about the Jews coming to Spain after Jerusalem was overtaken by the Romans in the first century.  There was some reference to Spain being the new Jerusalem after the old Jerusalem fell.  The population of Jews grew and they were a major part of the city until the 13th century when the early years of the inquisition started.  The Catholic Church tried to get them to convert to Christinaity and they resisted.   In 1492 King Ferdinand expelled all Jews from his kingdom and that was the crucial moment.  When it was either convert or be expelled from the country or executed, many converted.   Any of them who were found to be insincere in their new faith or who continued to practice their old faith were executed.  Owning certain objects or books was considered a sin.  Friends, neighbours and even family members turned people in and any found guilty of heresy (most of those accused) were burned alive or in effigy if they had already escaped.  By 1500 there were literally no Jews left in the area.  And the Catholic Church and Monarchy was not just against Jews.  It also targeted non-Catholic Christians (Calvinists, Lutherans, ...)  and those of impure thoughts or deeds.  From what I could tell this went on until the early 19th century so not a very nice time in Spain - and all in the name of Christianity, which kind of makes you wonder.

I wandered around some more after the museum going up and down small windy streets.  There were other churches and museums but they were not open.  Independence Square was a large square mainly filled with seating for restaurants and bars.   There were lots of other squares around the city as well and lots of green space.

On the one side of the river was the small statue of a lioness climbing up a pole.  Supposedly if you kiss the bottom end of the statue, which just happens to be the lioness' bottom, you will return to Girona one day.  There were a few young men around the statue getting their picture taken kissing the statue, so I guess it's still a big attraction.  There is another statue on the other side of the river of a lion that is really high up on a column.  Apparently a few people have confused the two statues and tied climbing the column to get to that lion as well.  I didn't bother with either one.  By the lion is the big public market but it was closed by the time I got there.

The river is very shallow as it runs through the city.  In fact, by the time it reaches the south end, there is literally no water in it.  It used to be much fuller and probably is at some times of the year.  There are houses all along the water front in various earth-tone colours and some of them just appear to be suspended over the river.  Many have colourful decorations.  Almost all have balconies and many have laundry hanging outside.  When the light is just right they make beautiful reflections in the river so it's very picturesque.  The many bridges in Girona also add to the beauty.

Overall my time in Girona  - about six hours - was very enjoyable.  Even with all the steps in the old part it is a very walkable city.  It also has a great chocolate or candy shop that sells delicious chocolates.  I bought the smallest package they had and I still have some left so I didn't eat too many even though I didn't have any lunch!

I got back to the train station shortly after 4 and caught the 4:30 train back.  On the walk back to my hotel just before 6:00 I had to stop and have some dinner because I was starving.  This is not their usual time for eating but as long as you go to one of the small cafes or pubs, not the big restaurants, you can usually get something.  I had a salad and some pasta in bolognese sauce and it was delicious.  Had I gone to bed at a decent hour I might have made it without eating anything else but alas, I was up until well after midnight so I got the munchies around midnight but I didn't get too greedy. I still have some chocolates left.