Our Blog - Girona, Spain

Girona was officially founded around 79 BC. It has been called many names over the centuries depending on who was in control. The Iberians, Romans, Visigoths, Moors and French all had a turn in capturing or ruling the city, dating back to the 4th century. The town is divided by the Onyar River, and we spent most of our time in the Old Town. There are brightly-painted houses overlooking the river, which is the emblematic image of the city. There are several bridges going over the river, including this red metal one (picture #4), known as the Eiffel bridge, built in 1827 by the same Gustave Eiffel as Paris’ Eiffel Tower.

We walked down the Rambla de la Llibertat, a long stretch along the River Onyar that was developed in the 13th century to hold the market. It is characterized by low arcades with unequal arches. There are also quite a few interesting buildings along the way. The last one is actually an ice cream shop, Victoriano Candela, with stained glass windows and molded woodwork that seems to be in the modernist style.

The medieval city was constructed between the 11th and 15th centuries. There are small alleys and in some cases, lots of steps! Here is a lovely staircase going up to the Església de Sant Martí (which we didn't go into). Just to the left, with another set of stairs going underneath it, is a lovely arch that is part of the Casa Agullana. The "old house" of the Agullanas already existed in the 14th century, while the new house dates from the 16th century, a time of splendor of the family. In 1631 the two houses were joined by the covered bridge.

Located within the old town, the Jewish Quarter (or El Call) is one of the best known areas. It is a labyrinth of narrow streets and patios that have maintained a medieval atmosphere. It is one of Europe’s best preserved Jewish quarters, showing that Girona had strong Jewish presence between the 12th and 15th centuries, when the Jews were expelled from Spain.

I mentioned the stairs, but there are also a few of these little covered passageways ... this one has stairs as well!

The Porte de Sobreportes was the Northern gate into the Roman city and leads directly to the Plaça de la Catedral de Girona. There are currently two round defense towers from the medieval period. These towers were built using the square towers from Roman times as their base. You can still see the remains of the large sandstone blocks used in the 3rd century when some renovations were done on the walls. On the inside of the gate, above the portal, there is a statue of the Virgin surrounded by a very nice painting. An odd story here ... in Medieval times, prisoners went to pray here before being executed.

No idea about this one really, but there was a musician standing outside the gate playing ... we thought it was nice.

Back across the River and Lucy decided that she wanted to stop and get a picture taken with the Cathedral in the background. Tom gave her the required boost.

Plaça de la Independència sits on the site of the old convent of Sant Agustí and is a porticoed square in neoclassical style. In the center of the square stands a monument from 1894 commemorating the 1809 defenders of the city of Girona. From May to December 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, around 32,000 French troops besieged the town. Around 9,000 Spanish troops (military and militia) held out until disease and famine forced them to surrender.

You gotta stop for lunch where the beer taps are ham legs!

We dropped Lucy at the hotel to take a nap and decided to walk along the old city walls to the Cathedral. The Passeig de la Muralla is what remains of the old city walls. Originally built by the Romans, it is thought that the Passeig de la Muralla has foundations dating as far back as the 1st century BC. However, much of what is left of the city walls was built between the 9th and 17th centuries. While the original walls were built (and reinforced) over the years to protect the city from sieges, sections of the wall have also been intentionally destroyed to allow for expansion. Most of what I have here are pictures from the walkway over Old Girona, with a few pictures of the Cathedral. The walkway is fairly narrow, with defensive slits and towers along the way.

The path ends behind the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Girona. An early Christian church was here before being turned into a mosque in 717 after the Islamic conquest of the Iberian peninsula. The city was reconquered by Charlemagne in 785 and it was converted again to a Christian church. But by 1015, the church was not in good shape and a new church was planned. Construction of the Cathedral started in the 11th century on the foundations of an ancient Roman temple and continued until the 18th century. Due to this, you can find various styles, from Romanesque in the cloister and Charlemagne tower, to the large 14th-15th century Gothic nave, to the baroque façade and steps. It has the second widest Gothic nave in the world (behind St. Peter’s Basilica) and is home to quite a collection of religious artifacts. It sits at the highest point of the historical center, with an impressive staircase going up to the entrance.

As you go inside, you are immediately hit by how large and open the interior is ... remember that this is the second widest Gothic nave in the world. On both sides of the nave are side chapels. The design of the choir is slightly different, with side aisles. This is due to a change in design from the beginning, when the nave was built, and when the nave was done.

There are a set of models that show the change over time. This first one goes back to Roman times, when there was a temple at the highest point and stairs that went down into the forum. The next model dates to 1057, and you can see the Romanesque church with the bell tower and the city walls around it to the left. And then the current Cathedral, with the staircase in front and the round towers of the The Porte de Sobreportes front-left.

This was one of the interesting altarpieces in the cathedral. It is in the Chapel of the Annunciation, built between 1589 and 1708. Along the bottom is the scene of the birth of Jesus and the adoration by the shepherds (this you can't actually see in my picture due to the metal gate). The central scene depicts the Annunciation, with the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel ... also hard to see due to the gate, but you can just see the tips of Gabriel's wings, with the head of God looking down. At the top, you can see Saint James on horseback.

Chapel of Saint Julian and Saint Basilisa, which is also known at the Baptism Chapel. The Renaissance-style baptismal font was carved from a single block of stone in the 16th century with statues of the 12 apostles.

Some of the stained glass windows date from the 14th and 15th centuries while others are relatively new.

This is the tomb of Cardinal Berenguer d'Anglesola, which has some very detailed statues carved in the stone.

Last pictures inside the cathedral, those of the Chapel of Hope.

And finally, the Romanesque cloister features a series of columns with sculpted capitals that depict fantastic figures, animals, and vegetable motifs. The galleries are home to several tombs of rich members of the monastery, dating from the 14th to 18th centuries.

Almost next door to the cathedral is the Basilica of Sant Feliu, which was Girona's cathedral until the 10th century. Dating from the early days of Christianity, it was built between the 12th and 17th centuries in a Gothic, castle-like style. The exterior doesn't look like a church in many ways ... this is mainly due to its location outside of the old city walls. Since it was built outside of the walls, it had to have its own defenses. The main entry door today was originally a doorway to the cloister, which was destroyed. The tympanum over this doorway dates from the 2nd half of 13th century, with a painting of the Virgin Mary with saint Narcissus and Saint Felix. Just to the left of this, there are still a couple arches and columns from the cloister.

The Chapel of Saint Anne contains the baptismal font. The chapel dates from the 14th to 16th centuries. The Gothic baptismal font was carved from a single piece of Girona limestone. The chapel is dedicated to Saint Anne, who you can see at the back, and also on the keystone of the main vault. The capitals where the ribs sit are also nicely sculpted.

The nave is quite tall, while the side aisles are much lower. The pillars are quite sturdy, and quite Romanesque, as they date back to the early stages of construction. Originally, the ceiling would have most likely been made of wood and replaced by this high Gothic ribbed vault in the 14th century. They keystones have several different views.

In the Chapel fo the Angels is a statue of a Reclining Christ. Built in 2nd half of 14th century, sits at the base of the bell tower. The keystone was one of the nicest (in my opinion) in the church, showing Archangels Michael (slaying the dragon) and Gabriel (holding lilies), with 2 other angels around them. The Reclining Christ was originally part of a complete grouping showing the burial of Christ, but this is really the only well-preserved part. It was done in the 14th century by a French sculptor from Normandy.

Chapel of Saint Narcissus, was a bishop of Girona, martyred during the persecution of 305AD. City's patron saint. In the late 18th century, the Bishop of Girona at the time decided to built a "more dignified spot" for the Saints remains. It is HUGE compared to the other chapels, and is one of the most interesting spaces from the late Barqoue period. The design is very different from the other chapels, being large and quite tall, with high marble and jasper walls. You can see the statue of Saint Narcissus on top of a simple silver sarcophagus that used to house the saint's remains. Above the baldaquin is a grand painting depicting the martyrdom of the Saint.

I mentioned the simple, silver sarcophagus that used to house the remains. In 1328, this was replaced by this tomb, which shows him in full liturgical robes. Around the sides are alabaster carvings, set against what look like blue and red stained-glass windows, showing scenes from his life.

In the main part of the altar are several ancient sarcophagus, dating from 310 AD, with various scenes. You can pick out where the scenes change with the figures turning their back in the other direction. In the first scene on the left, you can see Saint peter causing water to flow from a rock, and the people below drinking the water. The you can see where the next scene starts, where the man is looking in the other direction. Christ cures a paralyzed man who is being carried on a stretcher. Again with the person that has his back turned away from that scene marks the beginning of the next scene. Start of the next picture, you can see the person's hand on the face of a smaller person, this is Christ cures a blind man. There is also the denying of Christ by Peter (a bit further with a rooster at the bottom, and then a person standing on a lion.

Main altarpiece has Jesus and Mary surrounded by the 12 apostles, all which are identifiable by their specific attributes. These are from the 16th century.

In the 12th century, a public bath was created by the Arabs that held the city. They based their design on Roman baths, including various rooms with different temperatures. The first mention of the existence of these baths dates back to 1194. They got partially destroyed during a siege in 1285 and rebuilt. They went through a variety of owners, including a community of Capuchin nuns who included it in their convent. It was finally purchased by the government in 1929 and restored. I'll start with a couple drawings of the complex, which is basically made up of 4 rooms.

The first room is the Apodyterium, or changing room. You would enter and exit through this room, change clothes, and chat with others. In the center is a small octagonal pool surrounded by columns which goes up through the roof. The capitals are decorated with plant and animal motifs, which are interpreted as symbolic references to the Christian earthly paradise. The ceiling is made mainly of volcanic stone.

From the changing room, you go into the first and smallest room, the frigidarium, or cold room. Here, you bathe in cold water, which used rainwater stored in a cistern meaning no cooling was required. Then a warm room or tepidarium, and finally a hot room, the caldarium. The temperature in this last room could be 40 or 50 ºC, and the air was full of steam. Water was heated in a furnace and pumped into the room. The warm room was the middle-ground between the cold and hot rooms, so the body could gradually get used to the temperature change before going into the next room. Finally, following Roman and Arab tradition, bathers would also end their visit with a dip in the frigidarium pool and then back into the changing room to leave.

Another interesting building ... the store on the ground floor is available!