Girona goes International-for a week

Girona only has a population approaching 100,000 and yet this week we have had and will have a truly international flavour with the 10th Religious and World Music Festival and the massive Tour de France cycling race hitting town tomorrow.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from gironaJ

Priorato cooking demonstration

As part of the wine festival there are also olive oil tastings and cooking demonstrations throughout the weekend. This one was held in the main square of Falset and everyone had the same accessories of either a butane camping gas stove or a small charcoal grill on which to prepare their dishes.
All the important ingredients of the area were being shown off in spectacular and imaginative style from wild herbs, pine nuts and almonds, olives and olive oil, wine, vinegar to season wild boar, hare, rabbit and some juicy pork products.
What cannot be passed on through the pictures is the amazing smells and of course the taste, next year you will have to come to sample for yourselves!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from gironaJ

Summer Festivals in Girona

Image by FactoriaVoodoo.com via Flickr

During the summer months the province of Girona becomes a cultural paradise with a wide variety of music, dance and performing arts. The selection of music on offer goes from classic through jazz to opera and flamenco. The most famous and best funded festivals are without doubt the Festival Castell de Peralada and the Caixa de Girona sponsored events at Cap Roig botanical gardens.Coming up behind these but with possibly more interesting up and coming performers are the Porta Ferrada festival in Sant Feliu de Guixols and the  Festival de Musiques of Torroella de Montgrí. The other events which are always fabulous because of their unique settings are the Musiques Religioses i del Mon in Girona set on the steps of the Cathedral and the open air setting next to the Greek and Roman ruins of Empuries. These are truly nights to remember where you can sit outside in the balmy evening listening to some amazing performances live thinking how extremely civilized this is.
To name all the performances would be to cite literally hundreds but please do ask in the local tourist information or look in a newspaper since most nights from now on there is sure to be something happening near you.I will be going to several concerts in Girona  including the Tallis Scholars, Noa and Khalid Izri which is free, then a visit to Torroella to listen to Mah Damba from Mali and to pay homage to James Brown at Sant Feliu and Kool and the Gang at Cap Roig. So get yourself motivated  and book some tickets for a special night out this summer, you will definitely not regret it!