A wonderful day in Girona
Here goes the last part of my Barcelona Diary: Our day trip to Girona.
Girona is a beautiful walled city beside the river Onyar in the northeastern Catalonia region. It is often overlooked by most of the travelers. But this medieval city is a gem of the Catalonia region.
It has a rich history that takes us back to the Roman ages. It has a unique architecture that left us in awe. It is famous for its well-preserved Jewish Quarter. And the colorful hanging buildings alongside the river, made the city look like "a city from storybook'.
One can easily get lost in the labyrinth of cobbled paths throughout the city. Even you lose your way in the winding maze or struck by its splendid beauty, you should never miss: "Girona, the Medieval Saga".
Getting there: Girona is around100 km from Barcelona and can be reached from Barcelona via Renfe Train. The journey takes 38 minutes with high-speed AVE train and around 80 minutes with the normal train.
During our visit, we started quite early from Barcelona and reached there before11 AM. Once we reached there, we started walking towards the old city. We found a tourist information center on our way. We collected the city map from there and continued.
In every blog, I talk about city-map. Probably it is a bit old school but I like a nice map with pictures of important places marked. Though I am awful at navigation.
Walk and Only Walk: I think, "Walking" gives you the true taste of the city. So no exception for Girona.
From the tourist office, we headed towards Rambla de la Llibertat and through the beautiful stoned street, we reached Girona Cathedral, built between the11th and18th centuries. We took the stairs and went up. Needless to mention, once you are up, you get a great view of the surrounding.
Moving forward from the cathedral, we visited Esglesia de Sant Feliu: a basilica dedicated to St. Felix and also La Lleona. I do not have any pictures of La Lleona. But it is fun to find that place since it is attached to a myth: "Go and Kiss the bottom of Lioness statue and you will come back to Girona".
From there, walked again towards Banys Àrabs: the Romanesque style bath, followed by Sant Pere de Galligants: Benedictine Abbey in Girona.
After that, we came back to Banys Àrabs and started climbing Girona City Wall. While walking through the city walls, we crossed Jardins de La Francesa, Jardins dels Alemanys. The view from the city wall is absolutely magnificent.
We continued with our walking and finished our walk near Sant Domenec.
We headed for lunch after that. After lunch, we again wandered in the city. We found many cute cafes, souvenir shops in the city center and visited the Eiffel bridge on our way back. This beautiful red bridge is a must-visit and a great place to do photography.
The highlights of Girona: Girona is a great place to be if you are a "Game of Thrones" fan like me.
Could you remember anything from the photo of the Cathedral, the steps? Check out the photos above.
This is the place where Queen Margaery's walk of atonement was filmed.
What about Sant Domenec??? Remember the scene where Arya was running from Waif?
I did not spot those places, to be honest. My friend spotted it.
Like this, you can find many spots while in Girona. It is really fun to search for such places.
if you are more interested, you can also look for Game of Thrones tour in Girona.
such as: