The train ride from Barcelona to Girona was packed, standing room only. We boarded at Clot, meaning we did not get seats. Next time we travel to Girona on a Saturday, we will make sure to leave from Sants and get there early!
With a little persistence, however, I managed to get a seat! I spotted a man on the train with his luggage in the seat next to him. Not wanting to stand for the 90 minute ride, I asked him if the seat was occupied. He said it was, with his luggage. I pointed out that he could put his luggage in the aisle where I was standing and I could sit down. He agreed, and I sat down, with Raymi on my lap. Two seats for people, and one less for luggage!
The train ride went well. It was short, and the scenery was quite nice along the way. My ten year old twins were thoroughly entertained with their iPod touches, and I read stories on my Kindle to my seven year old. Thank goodness for electronic devices!
Once we arrived in Girona, we ventured out towards the historic center in search of a “menu” – an inexpensive prix-fixe lunch menu. The train station is about five blocks from the historic center. We made it to the famous Pont Pedra, and turned right towards the Plaza Catalunya. Close to there, we found a restaurant with a decent menu at a reasonable price – 13 euros. As a bonus, they had pizza!
The restaurant was Catalonian, the bartender Chinese, and the server Cuban – quite the multi-ethnic place. Nando ordered a plate of butifarra with kiwi as an appetizer, and I had a tortilla with salmon and garlic. Mine was quite a bit more interesting. We both had merluza or lluç – a white fish- for the main course. It was grilled to perfection and quite tasty. For dessert, we ordered chocolate cake and tira misu, which the girls devoured.
In Spain, a lunch menu comes with wine, so the waiter put two bottles of wine on the table. Nando and I made it through a bottle and a half of wine, meaning we were in quite a good mood after lunch. A nice long walk was just what we needed to walk off the wine. Girona is the perfect town to walk around in.
Girona was built hundreds of years ago, with narrow streets. One thing I have learned by spending the summer in Catalonia is that narrow streets are much cooler than wide ones. Tall buildings on narrow streets provide ample shade and a cool breeze. This made walking up the many stairs around the historic center much more pleasant.
I walked with my daughters through the old town and up to the Cathedral. The Cathedral is an impressive structure, with a few flights of white stone stairs leading up to it. Short on time, we didn’t go inside. A couple of hours in Girona was just enough time to walk around the narrow streets, up and down the old staircases, and through the narrow arches. As a treat, I took the girls to a “2 euro” store, which is kind of like a dollar store, but where everything costs 2 euros – about 3 dollars.
At the 2 euro store, Soraya got a straw hat, Tatiana a keychain flashlight, and Raymi a small toy keychain. I even got a new wallet, as I lost mine in Sitges a few weeks ago.
Soon, it was time to go back to the train station. Four hours in Girona was pretty short, especially because of our long lunch. But, it was definitely a great way to break up the trip from Barcelona to France.
The train took us to Cerbere, and from there we took another train to Elne. In Elne, my sister in law picked us up to take us to St. Cyprien, where she lives. The ride along the northernmost coast of Spain was very scenic. We made it to St. Cyprien, a lovely seaside town, by 7pm, where my sister-in-law had prepared a delicious seafood stew for us.
0 comments:
Post a Comment