Oh Girona!

This was on the end of the building where we stayed.

June 15: The trip to Girona, Spain, took most of the day. Our first train, out of Sarlat, left bright and early at 6:22. It was a challenging day of transfers: Sarlat to Bordeaux, Bordeaux to Narbonne, Narbonne to Girona. Despite the early start, we were not due to arrive in Girona until 3:45 that afternoon. All went well until we somehow missed our stop at Girona. How that happened, I'm not sure, but I think it had to do with our not listening closely enough to the announcements, which were in French, Spanish, and finally English maybe.

So there we were, sitting quietly in the train, which had stopped we knew not where, thinking the next stop would be Girona. The stop was underground and we couldn't see through the window very well...but I finally looked back down the track, and suddenly saw GIRONA on the sign. Mad dash, grab the luggage, down the stairs to the door--but it had closed and the train was moving. We were on our way to Barcelona, like it or not. And we didn't like it much at all. Because we have Eurail passes, it's not much of a financial problem, but logistically we had an unknown challenge ahead of us.

(It was fortunate, actually, in one way that we hadn't been able to get off the train in Girona, because in our mad dash I had left my backpack in the overhead luggage rack and would have lost that forever)

We got to the Barcelona main station, and there was pandemonium everywhere. That place was jammed with people who were anxious to get somewhere. I had something of a meltdown, because we couldn't simply turn around and go back down to any train platform without a ticket (the Eurail passes weren't enough for the gatekeepers--and incidentally this was the only place where we have encountered gatekeepers for access to the train platforms.)

it seemed the only thing to do was wait in a seemingly endless line for our number to be called to get tickets on our passes for Girona. Then Cindy had the brilliant idea to go to the ticket-buying machines, where there were official helpers, and just outright buy tickets on a local train going to Girona. Yay!!

Got to the local train platform, where Cindy asked a couple of young men if this was the correct platform to get to Girona; they assured us we were on the right track. Lots of people waiting. Train comes, we are struggling to get our bags on the train, and suddenly some miscreant walks by and slips my phone out of my bag--right in front of me! He must have still been in training, because as slick as his move was, I caught it and I yelled at him. The two guys who had talked to Cindy earlier were standing right next to me, and perhaps he thought they were with me. He dropped the phone on the platform and ran off, leaving me to fling choice words in his direction. I picked up my phone, then Cindy noticed that my precious ticket had fallen to the ground. One of the guys picked it up, I got my suitcase on board, and we were off on the hottest, slowest train ride of our entire trip. We managed to get seats, hang on to our bags, and sort of settle in for what turned out to be a much longer ride back to our destination. This train made stops at every station along the way, and for the first half of the journey more people were boarding than exiting.

But we were finally on our way to the right destination! And none the worse for wear despite the scare at the station. In retrospect, it was an important reminder to us that we needed to be a bit more alert and careful while traveling. While we were in Girona I purchased a "leash" for my phone so that it is much more difficult to grab now; they might have to take my head with it. 😵‍💫

Despite this incident, our travels have been amazingly trouble free, given the amount of traveling we've been doing.

Once in Girona, we were in an awesome apartment right on the edge of that city's historic center--more medieval walls and churches! We still got to town in plenty of time to have dinner, because Spain, like France and Italy, runs on a later schedule. We found a terrific crepe place close by in a heavily scented area filled with linden trees in bloom. I'm not going to go into detail about our stay in Girona, so you can just see some awesome pics and brief blurbs (trying to catch up a bit before my memories are too fuzzy to remember...).

First evening:

I love the way buildings are treated as works of art

Another city, another magical mysterious medieval walkway.

And I loved this column:

Unfortunately, I couldn't read the column and the sign had no real information beyond the sponsors. But it's beautiful, right?

That was our first evening, which felt great after the day we'd been through.

The next morning, this was the view from our balcony:

The cathedral and the basilica

Some more Girona scenes:

That little shop on the right was a bakery where we had breakfast both mornings in Girona.

Remember my fixation on fish back in London? These guys seem surprisingly similar to their British cousins.

Riu Onyar--that red bridge (Pont de las peixateries velles) in the distance was designed by Gustave Eiffel before he embarked on his Tower in Paris. Here it is up close:

Other artistic touches around Girona:

Architecture does not need to be anything less than stunningly beautiful. The front of this building, for example...

And finally, from around the basilica and the cathedral. The basilica was closed for mass, but the cathedral was open.

It was a long way up to the (closed) basilica.

Back to the cathedral below, and some beautiful cobblestone work.

Hadn't seen a dragon in a while. Here's a less than fearsome one meeting its fate at the tip of St. George's spear.

I just can't help myself. I'm fascinated and awed by these various cathedral ceilings...

Having worked for the Dominicans at St. Albert Priory in Oakland for about 20 years, Cindy has a sharp eye for Dominican saints. This one was clearly important.

And finally, some evening views of and from the medieval wall, which was doubtless built on the remains of a Roman wall:

Cindy and I really loved Girona. Its old city was beautifully preserved, the transition to the more contemporary areas was seamless, and the entire place had a sweet vibe to it. We would have been happy to stay there longer, but new adventures called.

But first...tomorrow, a quick visit to Figueres and the Dalí Museum, which is over the top in every way.