November 2008 Archives

City walls walkway Girona

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From the Cathedral gardens there is quite a steep climb to where you get onto the old city walls. These walls have been extensively restored and you can see a mix of old sedimentary rock, bricks and stones combined with modern materials making it a safe experience for all ages. The views of the Cathedral, Sant Felix Church as well as all of Girona spread out below is worth all the huffing and puffing.
Looking down from the height of the walls you can see Modernist private houses, secret gardens and interesting features such as an ancient "privvy" or toilet incorporated into the wall, presumably for the patrolling guards. Buildings of Girona University, churches and some of the narrow lanes give the Old Town or "Barri Vell" its charm. Once you descend from the walls close to the river Onyar you are in the heart of modern, commercial Girona, at the Placa de Catalunya and only a short walk to the pedestrianised Rambla de la Libertad with lots of shops and cafe  terraces.

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As befits a town that has been a settlement since before the Visigoths and later developed and influenced by Romans, Moors, Jews and Catholics ever since, there are many layers of building mixed together here in the Old Town of Girona.
The Cathedral gardens are nestled below the impressive town walls, walls that repelled many sieges over the years and are both high and thick enough to resist any but the best equipped armies. The local council has done a very nice job restoring and incorporating a walkway along the top of the walls, from which the views of the Old Town are one of the best ways to start your visit to Girona.The whole walk takes about an hour and involves some climbing of steps as Girona Cathedral is at the top of a hill with commanding views of the town below.Today we get a look at one side, the gardens, next time we will finish the rest of the walkway.

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The Caixa de Girona Foundation at the Fontana d'Or have put on a wonderful exhibition of some important figures in the Russian avant-garde movement. Works by Kandinsky, Malevich, Goncharova, Falk, Filonov and Olga Rozanova amongst others trace the evolution of the abstract expressionism movement from both impressionist and symbolist roots. On until jan 18th this is a must see for anyone living or visiting Girona this winter.

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A mornings mushroom hunting

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Another common activity in the autumn is to scour the woods around Girona for mushrooms. Everyone has their favourite, and normally secret, places where they go back every year. The old country types say it takes about two weeks after rain for mushrooms to start appearing, so with that in mind and since the weather is perfect during the day, I set off with a friend to explore.
We found lots of different varieties, big and small, edible and poisonous but not really the ones we were looking for. The "rovellons" and "pinyatells" as well as "ceps" and "trompetes de la mort" are the most desirable but also hardest to find when half the population is out looking for the same ones.
When we had walked for a couple hours and were getting hungry we called it a day and made an omlette with a mixture of the best ones with olive oil, garlic and rosemary, a hunk of bread and all washed down with a good rustic wine. Now that's what I call a good mornings work!

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This page is an archive of entries from November 2008 listed from newest to oldest.

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