We passed through Girona en route from Barcelona to Figueres. Granted, we were on a bus, a bit jet-lagged, but Girona looked pretty pedestrian, or worse. It did not occur to us to go there again. Reading about it in the guide book in the Pubol parking lot changed our minds, however, and happily so. Girona is an old and distinguished city, scenic, well preserved and well-presented. We spent just an afternoon there, and might well visit again. What's not to like about a place that is quite nice itself and that is an hour's drive from a) Barcelona, b) the Costa Brava and the Mediterranean, c) the Pyrenees, and d) France?
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After the suburbs and big-box neighborhoods, you cross the
river, above, |
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| Find yourself in something of a forest, |
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| And then turn onto the view of the old city... |
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| Crossing a scenic diversion of the river |
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| And there you are, in a beautiful old town |
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With plenty of new trappings...here another food-truck-themed
restaurant, like one we saw in Buenos Aires |
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Seagull eye-view of the old city, with the
basilica and the cathedral foremost |
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| Funny faces on the older basilica |
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| Old city towers and walls |
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| 128 steps up to the cathedral |
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A very late but not flamboyant Gothic, with an unusual design:
the second widest nave in Christendom (only St. Pete's is wider);
although the chancel is not so wide nor high; read on... |
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As is almost always the case with Spanish cathedrals, the choir,
or, here, the organ, prevents a full west-east view of the building |
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| Cloister |
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The diagrams explain how Girona's cathedral is different (it's
the second from left) |
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Capital on column in cloister; something has gone terribly
wrong here |
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Moving right along now to the so-called
Arabian Baths; Moorish in origin, perhaps,
but definitely Roman in design |
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| With hot and cold rooms, etc. |
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| City walls, cathedral and buttresses |
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| Inside the older, smaller, basilica |
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| More old walls |
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| And a bit of Art Nouveau |
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| Another beautiful place to return to... |
