Girona; Friday, 04 November, 2022

I had a really good nights sleep and woke up at 7am feeling really refreshed. Just a shame that I’d set my alarm for 9am. I eventually got up a little after 8, had a shower and headed down for breakfast before heading out into town.

I wandered down through the modern city centre to the Plaça de la lndependència where I had a quick look around the square before leaving via the Sant Agustí bridge across the Riu Onyar, taking in the impressive views of the colourful cliff like buildings that line the river at this point.

Having crossed into the old town I wandered through the narrow streets stopping off below the front of the Basilica of St Felix to take in it’s myriad of architectural styles, before wandering round to the former monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants which is the only place along the walls where they haven’t been fully reconstructed with a small section of the norther part of the wall ending abruptly behind the church. I headed up onto the wall and walked along this small section back down towards the river.

As I was walking I noticed that the skies were getting very threatening, and then a number of flashes of lightning and distant rumbles of thunder started. By the time I got back down to street level the first spits of rain were starting to fall and the gaps between lightning and thunder were only down to a couple of seconds, so I knew I only had a very short period of time to find shelter before getting soaked.

Thankfully it was only a short walk back round to the monastery which I made with a few seconds to spare before a monsoon like downpour hit the city. The monastery is today the local archaeological museum. I had originally intended on doing most of the museums on Sunday, as they are all free on the first Sunday of the month, but €6 felt like good enough value for avoiding getting soaked so I sat out the storm, which lasted for a good 40 minutes, wandering around the museum.

By the time I left the museum the storm had passed and clear blue skies and a warm sun were making fast work of the standing water, in places you could actually see steam rising as the rain evaporated away quickly. I had a bit of a wander around the area behind the monastery and then started climbing up the next parts of the walls up towards the Cathedral, diverting off part way up to visit the Arabic Baths, and then afterwards just round the corner to look inside the Basilica of St Felix.

After the Basilica I wandered up into the old town and stopped off for a very late lunch at a café at the foot of the Cathedral stairs to recharge both mine and my mobiles batteries before climbing up the 90 or so stairs to the Cathedral and having a look around inside there.

From the Cathedral it’s just a short, and thankfully level, walk round to the former Bishops Palace which now houses the Museu d’Art which displays many artefacts that were originally on display in both the Basilica and the Cathedral, as well as a small selection of modern art and some temporary exhibit spaces.

I spent quite a bit of time looking round the museum and the sun was already well on it’s way to setting as I wandered a bit further up through the old town, taking in the narrow lanes and stairways that lead up the steep slopes, before heading back down to the riverside and then wandering back to the hotel to freshen up and drop off my bag.

Having had a late lunch it meant I was able to hang on until almost 9pm before I felt the need to head back out again in search of some dinner, and at least tonight I wasn’t the lone person eating as it looked like locals were also starting their meals about this time. After dinner I headed back to the hotel and my very comfy bed.