After doing some calculations both financial and entertainment wise, I figured I didn't really need to sit around in Barcelona between visiting my godmother Marie and my friend Rob, which would have brought my total time spent in Barcelona up to almost ten days straight. That's longer than I've spent in some countries on this trip! So I closed my eyes and pointed to the map of Catalunya, and Girona became my getaway destination for four days.
I had no idea what to expect, but Girona is very pleasant. It's a medieval town with lots of Gothic architecture. It was a stronghold of the Spanish Jews before the expulsion of 1492 and the historic Jewish quarter is still largely intact today as kind of an open air museum. The cathedral here boasts the largest Gothic vault in Europe (I know fancy that!). And the pace of life is definitely more chilled out than Barcelona.
I spent yesterday with Hannah from Nice and Linn from Stockholm going up and down a million cobblestone staircases to see the cathedral, the old ramparts wall around the old part of the city, and the plazas, as well as dropping in on the Saturday markets in the park. One note on the big park, on weekends, they open up three big tent bars/dance clubs in the center of the park called Las Carpas, bringing a whole new meaning to the expressions 'park party' and 'drinking in the park'. And Spaniards don't even think about showing up at club venues until well after 2am, so my sleeping schedule is all over the place lately. No wonder they're dedicated to their siestas!
My hostel here is especially great, with a kitchen, clean bathrooms, comfy bunks, nice staff and fellow travellers and best of all, a terrace with views of the canal, old quarter and cathedral, where I will spending the rest of today with my book.
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