The Wonders of Girona (April 2011)

How on earth could I forget to write about this jewel hidden away in the middle of Catalonia? Admittedly you might only know it from the fact that Ryanair is Girona airport's largest airline, and that flying straight to Barcelona is about ten times more expensive than flying here.... But anyway, I was not there to visit the airport (although I did have to sleep there various times when flying around). I had gone for the Black Music Festival.

The city itself appears at a first glance to be a normal jumble of modern office blocks mixed in with some rundown sites. But the real Girona is hidden behind a mask straight from the construction boom in Spain. A river crosses the city, and along or near the river are some of Girona's most well known landmarks: the Cathedral.

Like any Spanish town or city, the historic centre has now given way to streets full of outdoors cafes and restaurants, one of Spain's most famous characteristics. I think in Madrid capital alone the number of cafes and restaurants must be over 250,000! Well, Girona would not disappoint any tourist in search for outdoor cafes.

The city's riversides look almost Italian: the buildings go from light green, to yellow, to dark red, to orange... Think of a decent house colour and Girona will probably have it. It is not like many of the nearby coast villages, like the famous Cadaques, which are mostly full of low rise white houses with terraces. Girona has many colours. And this is what the riverside of famous for:



I took quite a few pictures when visiting this place. The river banks almost looked medieval, with wooden beams supporting the buildings right on the water's edge, and small bridges crossing from side to side every hundred metres or so. The tightness of the buildings and their height, in comparison to the river's width, gave this area of the old town a sense of being crammed and jumbled. The houses seemed to pile on top of one another up the hill, pierced here and there by a tower of spire, which made this area seem even more traditional and unexploited by merciless modern architects.

This was one of the first buildings I bumped into after leaving the train station. I'm not exactly sure what style of architecture it is, but its a very peculiar one! It seemed to be a museum of some kind... I had seen pictures of this building in a newspaper a few weeks before travelling there. I only wish I had read the whole article instead of just looking at the picture!

It turns out that this building used to be a flour factory. At the time it wasn't in Girona itself, but in an outlying small village which has now been engulfed by the growing city. It was built by Rafael Maso i Valenti and stands as one of Girona's most important Modernist buildings. It's a peculiar construction, but very eye-catching and certainly makes you wonder how the architect came up with it! You can see by the steep roof that Gaudi was probably one of the architect's strongest influences. And it really is a mouthful to look at!

The following pictures are all along the main river of Girona. The effects that a windless, sunny day can do to buildings along a river, creating almost exact reflections of the buildings!

The historic centre of the town was buzzing with people, as happens in most Mediterranean cities. It was actually hard to walk down various streets, as people stop and speak to neighbours, see old friends, or simply start start discussing things with other people who are talking loudly nearby. And, of course, this was a Saturday evening, so what could be better than to have a wander around the river or sit at one of the many cafes splashed across the centre?

Unfortunately, like most of the rest of Spain, the city has suffered heavy losses due to Spain's other less well-known side: the evil residential construction boom (or abyss at the moment):

So Girona is a city with hidden jewels, a great atmosphere and huge amounts of architectural heritage. Like most people in Spain, its inhabitants are very open and polite, and will find any excuse to simply walk around and clog the streets when least needed by hurrying passers by. But maybe people should just not hurry, and take life that little bit more relaxed!

The next post I will be speaking about a famous quote, from a famous film, but more importantly about how it relates to events going on all across Spain. For a summary of these, look up my post on the 15-M Movements further down.