Costa Brava's villages

Girona



Girona, with its 80.000 inhabitants, is considered one of the 3 cities with the best quality of life.
The city has clearly separated by the Old town and the New town.
The city centre of the Old Town, the “Casc Antic” (the old part of the city), which followed the limits of the roman city, is the present historical centre of the city.
In there, we'll find: The Town Hall, located in the imaginary line that separates the old and the new part. It's a maze full of passages, where, in the bottom of the courtyard, there's the Municipal Theatre (19th Century.).

Is worth seeing the Cathedral of Santa Maria, artistic and historical monument, for its characteristics and history. It's the most spacious cathedral of the world Gothic architecture. In the same area, we find the old Benedictine Monastery “Sant Pere de Galligans”, one of the oldest Romanesque buildings of the city (currently, the seat of the Archaeological Museum), and the “Banys Arabs” (Arabic baths), Romanesque building, long ago dedicated to the public baths. Its framework is an imitation of the Muslim medieval baths.
We can't ignore the Church of St. Feliu, one of the main temples of the city, for its silhouette and the devotion of the population. And, of course, going to the Walls.
One of the most important point of this part of Girona, is, without a doubt, the “Call Jueu”, necessary to visit to could understand the Jewish history in our city, emphasizing that the first ones settled in the 9th Century.
If we follow the way, we'll arrive to the Ciutadans Street, where still survive lordly residences, with a lot of architectural interests, like the building “Fontana d'Or”
Next to the cathedral, there's the Gothic building “Pía Almoina”, one of the most impressive of Catalonia, built in the 12th Century, with the purpose of housing and feeding to the poor people. Currently is the seat of the Architect official School.

One of the most crowded points of the city is the “Rambla de la Llibertat”, ideal place to have a coffee in one of its terraces or shopping in its assorted shops. The Stone's Bridge (“Puente de Piedra”), has also a big historical interest, so joins the old with the new part, and it's an excellent place to observe one of the most representative and spectacular images of the city, the houses over the River Onyar. We will also find important buildings in the new part of Girona, like the building “la Farinera Teixidor”, or “la Punxa”, works of the architect Rafael Masó.
We always have the alternative to visit any museum, so Girona offers us an important variety: Cinema's Museum (unique in Spain), the Museum of the City's history, Capitular Museum (where we'll find the great work “El Tapiz de la Creacion”)…
We can visit Girona at any time, but if is possible to come in May, we'll bear witness to one of the ceremonies with most beauty of the city, the traditional Flower's exhibition, when the whole “Casco Antiguo” is full of flowers, transforming the visit to it, in an atmosphere of scent and colours, that will make a more pleasant stay.
Is also interesting to come at the end of October, when starts the “Fiestas de Sant Narcis” (the patron saint of Girona), when the population and visitors get together on the occasion of festival in a surprising park: Parc de la Devesa. It has always been one of the symbols of the city, overall for its characteristics banana trees (planted for the first time in 1859), curious for their height, unusual in this kind of trees.
One part of the park, is formed by a landscaped area, a calmed place, really appreciated by the inhabitants, which always have a moment to take for a walk, involved in its calmness and tranquillity.