Girona is another one of those Roman/Visigoth/Catalan/Spanish/French towns in this area with a history that spans the better part of two mellennia. It is a quick half-hour ride on the high-speed train that eventually arrives in Paris five hours out of Barcelona Sants. For us, it’s a half-hour ride, about the same distance as traveling to Slidell from New Orleans.
Girona is the equivalent to Barcelona that Chartres is to Paris, a cathedral town in the far suburbs, about 20 miles out of the main city. But Girona has two historic cathedrals, not just one. And they are practically next door to each other.
To our surprise, there was no tourist information office in the train station; in fact, there was no information at all in the train station. We walked outside to the square looking for some direction to the tourism office and finally found a street sign. The office was several blocks and across the river. Once there, the very friendly attendants gave us a map and directions on the major attractions of Girona.
Because we visited on a Monday, the art museum was closed, and the Jewish Museum closed early at 2 p.m. They sell a combined ticket for the Cathedral, the Basilica and the art museum, so we could only get two thirds of our value. And by the time we finished touring the two churches, the Jewish Museum was closed, but that’s not why we came to visit.
Both the churches offer excellent audio guides, and both were very interesting. Of the two, we actually preferred the Basilica, which is smaller but features eight sarcofagi in the walls that all date back to the fifth century A.D.
After touring both the churches, we went back toward town to have some lunch before heading to the train station. We found a local bar/restaurant that offered a full size sandwich for three euros. Lynn ordered the grilled ham and cheese (same price) that was prepared on toasted white bread. Funny thing about these parts–as good as their local bread is, we have seen lots of plain sliced white bread served in several restaurants. What gives?