A DAY IN GIRONA
If you are staying in the tourist apartments of Banyoles Ca l'Espardenyer you can not miss visit the charming city of Girona, only 20 kilometers away.
The Barri Vell de Girona, which has 2.000 years of history, will captivate you from the beginning. It is the historic center of the city and is formed by the Força Vella, a fortress erected by Romans in the 1st century B.C. and that remained intact until the 10th century AD, and the Eixample Medieval, set between the 11th and 15th centuries.
You can tour its Carolingian walls, the largest in Europe, and enjoy them magnificent views that offer of the city of Girona and its surroundings. If you access it from Torre del Llamp, you can also enjoy the peace that is usually breathed in the Jardins dels Alemanys. Or maybe you are lucky enough to find some historical depiction of the French war or some musical performance.
We recommend you take a walk through the beautiful labyrinthine alleys of the Jewish Quarter, one of the best preserved from around the world, and discover some of its magnificent courtyards and monuments, such as the Arab baths. And, of course, visit the imposing Girona Cathedral, one of the symbols of the city that combines Romanic and Gothic styles and has the widest vaulted Gothic nave in the world almost 23 meters. The monumental Romanic ensemble formed by Sant Pere de Galligants and the Chapel of Sant Nicolau is another of the many attractions of Girona.
To capture the lively and relaxed atmosphere of Girona, there is nothing better than to sit on a terrace underneath porches of the busy Plaça del Vi or under the vaults of the Rambla Llibertat, parallel to the Onyar River, which you can cross by the legendary Pont de Pedra or Gustave Eiffel's Iron Bridge. Could you resist taking the typical photo of the houses on the river Onyar in their bright colors reflected in the water?
Modernist and noucentista architecture, so closely associated with Barcelona, is also very present in Girona. The architect Rafael Masó is the main exponent of this change in the urban landscape of the city throughout the 20th century.
If you still want to take a stroll a bit further, you can visit the extensive La Devesa Park or go into the Sant Daniel Valley. Full of water sources and dense vegetation, where The Benedictine monastery of the eleventh century stands out, which can be reached on foot or by bicycle.