DAY 15 - CATALONIA - GAY, HAPPY or BOTH?

CATALONIA

Gay, Happy or Both?

DAY 15 

From:               Barcelona - Spain

To:                   Sitges & Girona - Spain

Distance:          207km / 128 miles

Climate:            18C = 65F

GAY SITGES: 

We decided to leave Barcelona -  what a great city!! One NOT to be missed while visiting Spain. But after a trip of quiet back roads, small villages, we were overwhelmed with the amount of people in Barcelona. Our heads were spinning. Time to move on..

So when we woke up after 4 days in Barcelona and Bob asked me again the usual question - "Beach or mountains?"  I chose BEACH - so off we went to the quaint beachside town of Sitges, 35 KM South of Barcelona. Our shortest excursion yet!

If you have never heard of Sitges, it is quite famous for it's carnival and open gay lifestyles. I don't mean gay as in happy - I mean homosexual gay. 

GAY & SPAIN

Although Spain is a very Catholic country they are actually very open minded and lenient. For example, it is the country to first to allow legal gay marriages 

• 66% of the people support gay same sex marriages
• over 16800 same sex marriages since 2005
• 1 of 10 countries to recognize same sex marriages
• Prostitution legal

EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT GAY

No one passes through Barcelona without making a stop to Sitges - even if they are not gay. The town is full of life, parties, bars, clubs and people. Bob and I have been there together and on our own before. However, this time we thought the town looked a bit more tired and in need of a face lift. 

With no parking available at any hotel, we decided to have lunch there and continue our journey. No beach for us today. The weather was cloudy, windy and rain was on the horizon.

FOR JOHN D!

Pulpito  - baby octupus. Bob was in heaven. He loves his 8 legged creatures!! Especially mixed in salsa.... as for me? Tough to be a vegetarian in Spain. I said, this may be the trip in which I may try my first piece of meat since I was 10.... Bob is so funny - each day he asks me if this is the day. I ask for what? He says.. oh my your memory is short. "To eat meat".... my answer - simply " Manana"

Beaches of Sitges

Sue this is for you!!

Promenade of Sitges! 

ONWARD BOUND -
GIRONA ( CATALONIA)

After lunch in Sitges we looked at the map and decided to head north to Girona. We found a nice hotel just 10 minutes from the center - one of the older Spanish hacienda type hotels - formal restaurant, large gardens, fountains and the charm of old Spain. 

Our hotel - Fornells Park

THE BACK STREET DRIVE

The next day one of the local living here suggest a route for us to take outside of the city to visit a few of the surrounding Roman and Medieval pueblos.Again all the less travelled roads.... it was a stunning drive through the forests. From afar you can see the the snow peaked Pyrenees. We drove as you can see on the map just along the French Border. We visited 3 towns.

BESALU

The town of Besalu was such a delightful surprise. 

It was designated a historical property. It dates back to the Romans and is a Medieval walled city . There is a beautiful 12th century bridge crossing over the Fluvia River.

 This was the first time I had ever seen anything like this. You cannot go inside the church unless you insert 1E which then turns on the lights in the church for 3 minutes. Incredible!! 

This church which was a monastery was concentrated in the 9th century.

 
The Plaza in Besalu

 The entire town was so beautiful with its old rocks, bridges and stone paths.

Adorable! They took wood and made modern day bars on the windows!

Am not sure how tall the people were back then??

The beautiful Romanesque bridge across the Fluvia River. 12th century. (I hope they don't close the gates on Bob)

Just at the end of the wall we found this fresh vegetable garden. I wanted some of that lettuce!!!

Can anyone guess which vegetable plant this is? come on... try again...

Artichokes! Baby ones..

NEXT - CASTELFOLLLIT

This towns only attraction was that it was built on volcanic rock.

 

NEXT CAMPRODON

A ski village nestled just on the border of France. It is known for it's meats and cheeses.

The water flows from the mountains down to the town.

Dried fresh mushrooms

These are local dried meats. ( my favorite store) They include ( see below) Bulls tongue, white or black.

Baby calfs.. oh so cute.

HAPPY GIRONA!!! 


Only 1.5 hours from Barcelona, we thought this was going to be a big busy city. On the contrary - we were pleasantly surprised to discover a manageable city, relatively quiet, with a charm like no other.

It has the feel of a big city, but the charm of a small town without the crowds. So close to busy Barcelona this city is a great alternative to a big busy city. It is very close to France and the mountains and fresh air surround it. It is truly a hidden gem.

Neither Bob nor myself had ever been to Girona so we didn't know what to expect. Since we had to wait a few extra days to get our bank cards sent to us, we thought this would make a good waiting spot. And what a good waiting spot it turned out to be....

Girona, in the heart of Catalonia, is truly impressive. The most difficult thing was trying to understand Catalan ( the primary language spoken in Catalonia).


RAIL SYSTEM


2012 completes the high speed train network being built between France, Girona and Barcelona. More and more people will be looking to live in Girona and work in Barcelona because of the high speed train coming soon. The train will only take 30 minutes to Barcelona from Girona.


REAL ESTATE IN GIRONA

House prices in Girona are 95% more expensive than the national house prices in Spain. An average price here is about E450K Euros ( $750K) vs the national Spanish average of E225K ($340K). Remember the national home price average in the USA is only *$158K *(according to Reuters). Girona real estate costs 2.5x more than the USA.

FLOWER FESTIVAL

The old historical part of the town is walled, medieval  and dates back to BC.
This Saturday marks the annual Flower Festival. Each area and home in the old town will be heavily decorated with flowers for 10 days. People from all over come to see this beautiful show of artistic display of flowers. Today hundreds of people all over the town were working on their unique displays...They say it is a sight to be seen.

This ancient cathedral dates back to the day of the Moors. It was originally built in the 2nd century.

The 86 long steps which are now covered in grass for the upcoming Flower Festival. The Cathedral is massive in size inside. Hosts a museum, cloister, and many jewels, arts and relics. It is enormous inside.

You can see the flower festival preparation,

These steps lead to the old Jewish section of town.

We were told that in the 12th century there as a very strong and successful Jewish community until the expulsion in the 15th century.

The city hosts a Jewish museum, Jewish quarter . 

The Jewish quarters in Girona are the best preserved in all of Europe and host to many tourists a year. 

BUILT BY
GUSTOV EIFFEL

the same man who designed the Eiffel tower.

Most of Girona is surrounded by the Rivers...

Streets of Girona - paved and clean

The wall surrounding the city is still preserved. Each store along the walled part of the city has the original all on the inside which they are prohibited to alter. These walls are even located in peoples home in the old part of town. 

The old city wall was an important defense for the city and built in 1 BC.

The grounds surround the cathedral are beautiful. Parks, cypress trees, Arab baths

The Arab Baths

Built in the 9th century, they were very modern for their times. A serious siege in the 1200 destroyed most of the baths, located just on the side of the cathedral.

In the 15th century it was privately owned until it was turned into a Monastery and the Arab baths were used by the nuns as a pantry, kitchen to store food. In 1929 the government took them over and started to restore them.

Getting ready for the flower festival this weekend. About 30 people were decorating the Arab baths.

There was so much to see in Girona. The 3 days we were here were not enough. We visited the old part of town, the museums, churches, cathedral and a few good restaurants. The town hall offered so many areas with free parking. Not even Corte Ingles here charged for parking. ( a rarity in Europe not to pay for parking).

The Venice of Catalonia

Summary - Catalonia a community with great cities, lush forests, running rivers and Pyrenees in the background are both Happy and Gay!

Hopefully our bank cards will arrive tomorrow so we can continue the journey. Otherwise, another day in Girona would be just fine with us!

Thanks for coming along. Want to drive tomorrow? Bob is getting tired and is asking me if anyone else wants to drive... so who is in the back seat? Are we driving alone or are there some passengers in the back seat with us? Keep those comments coming...

Hope you enjoyed the Community of CATALONIA
 (Barcelona, Sitges, Girona and all the surrounding little pueblos)

THANKS!


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