Girona, Spain

So two weekends ago we decided to go to Girona on Saturday.  It is a smaller town north of Barcelona and the birthplace of Salvador Dali. Here is one of his paintings...it is pretty famous.

It was about 1 1/2 hour train ride to Girona, faster if you take the express train.  Here in Spain the transit system (trams, buses, trains) is expansive and in most cases is the most efficient means of transportation.  I believe we paid 11.20 Euro ($15.98 USD) each person for a round-trip train pass.  We use the local train (Metro) pretty much daily, a 10 ride train ticket is 7.85 Euro ($10.10 USD) on the Metro. The only downside to using the Metro is that trains can be crowded, most stops are underground so it is often hot down there and there are usually a lot of steps to get to/from the train (which is a challenge with my ankle).

On the train to Girona there were no seats available so we had to stand for the entire 1 1/2 hour journey.  My ankles were not happy about that.  Upon arriving in Girona we walked around to see if we could find signs to direct us to the city center.  We finally found some and arrived in the city center/old town. I believe Jeff said Girona is called the "venice of Spain".

Here I am posing for a picture, behind me is what they call the old town.

 In order to get to old town you need to go over the canal.

 There was a large Jewish population in Girona, specifically in the old town there was a "jewish quarter".  All over the quarter there was evidence of the jewish star.

 This is the main catherdral in Girona.  It isn't picture here, but there is a large staircase that you need to climb to get to the catherdral.  I beleive we were told there were 90 steps, great news for the good ol' ankle :-(.

 Here is a picture overlooking the countryside from the back of the catherdral.

 Here is Jeff, overlooking the city from the catherdral.

This is what the old town consisted of....LOTS of stairs. This is just a street we walked town, by this time my ankle was not happy with me.

 This is a famous church in Girona, I can't remember the name...

 This is the city walls from back in the day.

 Here is Independence Plaza in the city center.

 Here I am enjoying some lunch, bread with tomato spread and jamon (ham).



Overall, it was a good trip.  I know Jeff was disappointed that my ankle started bothering me and I wasn't able to wander the hilly steps in old town anymore.  We might return on day when my ankle is 100%.