Little-known city of Girona has lots to offer for relaxing break
If you’ve ever flown to Barcelona by Ryanair you’ll have gone via Girona Airport, but it turns out there’s more to the city of Girona itself than merely serving as a hub on your way to Catalonia’s largest, most well-known city.
With a population of around 100,000, Girona stands today as a medieval city with intact fortress walls, and so is a beautiful spot to explore and discover by foot.
On the day of our arrival we were greeted with the Irish tourist’s worst nightmare when they escape to the sun — rain — but our local guide assured us it was just a temporary shower.
It might have been wet, but we still came up smelling of roses — quite literally, in fact — as Girona was in the midst of its annual Temps de Flors Flower Festival, a celebration of gardening, architecture and interior design that runs in mid-May.
All over the centre of the city, streets, houses, gardens, parks and shop windows were strewn with colourful floral decorations, and, best of all, visitors had permission to peruse private gardens that you’d usually only catch glimpses of through high wooden gates or stone walls.
Every morning between April and November, bilingual tours of the city’s historical centre are available (see www.girona.cat/turisme), and this is a good way to get your bearings, as well as to take in key attractions such as the enchanting Jewish Quarter, the Arab Baths, and Girona’s cathedral.
Having worked up an appetite with all that gruelling strolling and staring, we had dinner that evening in a restaurant called Cal Ros (Carrer de Cort-Reial, 9/ http://calros-restaurant.com).
There I had the most delicious deep-friend asparagus, cold pea soup with quail egg (divine), tender beef, and a flower-infused sorbet.
A main in Cal Ros cost between €17-€25, which is, admittedly, pricey.
Girona is considered to be an expensive place, though not to the extent of Barcelona.
That being said, the more-budget conscious should do fine, especially if you’re coming from Ireland, as nothing ever seems as expensive as it is at home.
For instance, at different points on my first day I got a coffee, a bottle of water, and a croissant, all for €2.50, while a glass of wine later in the day set me back €2.30.
The next morning, the sun was shining as we travelled for about an hour outside of Girona to visit the vineyard at Cellar Can Sais (cellercansais. com) in the heart of the countryside.
There, our guide Marta explained to us the climatic advantage of the region for wine production (it’s to do with the wind and the largely acidic soil), though my thoughts lay more in trying the finished product.
Yes, it was 11am, but I was on holiday, so sue me. Particularly delicious was the Can Sais Seleccio, an oaky red that I absorbed with torn chunks of bread and Marta’s equally tasty homemade olive oil.
From there it was on to lunch at the restaurant in the Hotel Sa Tuna (http://hostalsatuna.com), which, for all intents and purposes, is located in its own private cove.
Sitting outside in the shade of the afternoon sun, with just the sound of the water lapping onto the stoney beach nearby where a few children played and fishermen worked on boats, we started in on a three-hour lunch of gorgeous calamari, monkfish, and vegetable tapas. Heavenly.
Hotel Sa Tuna itself has a few rooms (costing between €150-€170, including breakfast), and is located 50 minutes drive from Girona airport. Worth keeping in mind for any of you on the hunt for a romantic, secluded weekend break.
From there we drove on to Pals, a tiny stone-walled town (imagine a typical movie set version of a medieval town and you’ll get the idea), with an elevated church, St Peter’s, that is so popular for weddings that there’s a two-year waiting list to get the venue (locals get preference).
On the final day of our break, we set off for Figueres, also about an hour away. This is the hometown of artist Salvador Dali, and indeed the centre-point of the town is the surreal — in both appearance and content — Teatre-Museu Dali (www.salvador-dali.org).
Designed by Dali himself (and indeed it’s his final resting place), the secret to understanding the place, as our enviously well-informed local guide Marcus warned us before entering, is “what it is isn’t what you see, and what you see isn’t what it is” .
The museum is all about visual trickery, and there’s some detail, or in-joke, or Dali reference to be studied and gleaned from just about every painting, object, and even pillar you pass inside.
If you can’t get enough Dali, you could grab lunch in the Duran Hotel (Carrer de Lesauca, 5, 17600, Figueres/www.hotelduran.com) where the man himself ate regularly (ask for his preferred alcove), and then travel on a little further to the house where he was born and raised in Port Lligat, in Cadeques.
Our last stop in our flying visit of the Costa Brava was l’Escala, where we stayed in the obscenely beautiful Hostal Spa Empuries (www.hostalempuries.com), a sustainable, environmentally friendly hotel with balcony views of the sea and a selection of snazzy cabin-type rooms with private terraces.
One last Mediterranean-themed meal in the hotel’s elegant Portitxol Restaurant was the perfect end to a chilled-out though stimulating trip that proved that Barcelona no more tells you everything about Catalonia than Dublin does Ireland.
Ryanair fly from Cork to Girona airport twice a week (Tuesday and Saturday). Flights start from approximately €85. The easiest way to get to Girona is by the Barcelona Bus service. From Girona airport, the buses leave at half past the hour, and the journey takes 25 minutes. Price €2.15 (single), €4.10 (return).
We stayed in the Hotel Carlemany (Plaça Miquel Santaló, 17002 Girona.
Phone +34 972 21 12 12 or see www.carlemany.es). The hotel is centrally located in downtown Girona, and has a fabulous restaurant attached called Indigo. Rooms are priced from €80-€104 for a twin or double, depending on whether you want breakfast included.
In L’Escala, Hostal Empúries (www.hostalempuries.com or phone + 972 77 02 07) has 55 rooms split between the old and new buildings, and a standard double is €107 per person per night.
The Jewish Quarter in Girona. Lots of cafes and little shops dot its narrow streets, and you might be lucky to catch a concert in the outdoor stage of the Jewish Museum’s garden.
If travelling in the autumn/winter, check the opening times on the website (www.salvador-dali.org). At peak times of year, prepare to queue, especially at weekends. But it’s worth it.
A good tip is to find a local La Caixa bank where you can buy tickets from ATM machines inside, meaning you don’t have to queue at the museum itself.
Perfect for an afternoon walk surrounded by Cyprus and orange trees. Take in the beaches of Tamariu and Llafranc.
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