Plank Road: Girona

Girona is a fine little city. It began as an Iberian settlement, over the centuries, the usual invaders followed: Romans, Visigoths, Moors and French. It is estimated that the city was under siege 25 times over its history. The old city is partially surrounded by wonderful city walls that have been heavily restored.

Parking in Girona is difficult, there are several public parking lots which are jammed full, and I mean jammed full. The spaces are small and the experienced car parking Catalans can fit their cars into anything, we watched one guy back in while continually trying to open his door, he stopped when his door opened just past a tree, so he could get out of the car. However, there is not a car without dinged-up and scratched fenders and bumpers. There were no spaces to be had, so we had to drive around the streets and enter the lot again, then we followed some people walking to their car and got a very good spot.

Girona is split by the Onyar river, the medieval city is on one side and the newer city on the other. The location of the Cathedral on top of a hill, made it obvious in which direction we were to proceed to get to the ancient city. On our way, we stopped in for a café amb lett, café is very good and inexpensive in Girona.

We found a board with a city map and proceeded across the Onyar to the tourist information centre to get a city map. The buildings along the river once served as an outer defensive wall to the moat, in the 1980s they were restored and painted in striking colours. There are many foot bridges over the Onyar.

We began our exploration of the medieval area by climbing up the steps to the city walls, we then walked a good chunk of the walls until we got to the Cathedral. The Cathedral was built between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries; therefore, there are more than a few architectural styles involved. Originally, it was to have three naves, but a decision was made to build one Catalan Gothic nave that spanned the unbelievable width of 72 feet, while soaring 75 feet above the floor. This was an incredible feat of building at that time, the Catalan architects were daring.

The building is heavy and severe looking. The stairway, at 90 steps, and the gigantic rose window were constructed in the eighteenth century. The facade of sculpture looks really out of place, the majority of the original facade was destroyed by anarchists and reconstructed in battleship grey, the sculpture is fairly rudimentary looking.

The most interesting area of Girona is the Barri Vell with its meandering tiny lanes and stone steps. Within the Barri Vell is the Jewish Quarter or El Call, which had a Jewish population of approximately 1,000 people in the 1200s. After the persecution of Jews and their eventual expulsion from Spain in 1492, the Call was built over and forgotten. In the 1970s, the Call was discovered during excavation of some old streets.

After enough wandering around Girona, we had planned on stopping in to visit a few medieval villages on the way home, but it was a bit drizzly so we decided that was enough for the day.

The Catedral de Santa Maria