Girona

Panoramic View of Girona from the Old Wall

I am back, but this time after only a year and a half away. I still can't believe I waited 16 years the first time.

I have been here a little over a week now. In many ways, it's as if I'd never left. 

It's winter here, and so far it's been a mild winter. The temperatures are in the mid-teens during the day (which equates to upper 40s in the mornings and evenings, and mid 50s most days).

Last week I went into Girona. 

View of the River Onyar from the Pont de les Peixateries Velles, or Pont de Ferro, or Pont Eiffel as it was designed by Gustave Eiffel. Here you can see a small section of the bridge from where I took the photo.

This is the same view of the River Onyar, but I stepped forward to exclude the red iron bars of the bridge. Tomorrow I will see about taking a photo that shows off the painted buildings a bit more.

I arrived a bit before things open, so after checking out Eiffel's Iron Bridge, I went and had a coffee and a croissant at La Pedra. La Pedra is a café owned by a friend of Vanesa. 

After that I stopped in at the Tourist Information Center near the Pont Pedra (Stone Bridge) and got a city map and some advice on things to see. This was welcome because even though I am familiar with much of the city, I went in without a plan. When the lady recommended walking along the old wall that surrounds part of the city, I suddenly had a plan! 

I took lots of pictures, some of them are below. I don't have captions for them all, as I think they wind up being fairly self-explanatory.

Tomorrow I am going back to Girona to do a guided walking tour of the city, which includes a guided tour of the Jewish History Museum.

View of the cathedral from the old wall.

I had to take a snapshot of the back of this building so beautifully painted and viewable only from the old wall. I will have to try to find the street side someday and see if it's painted with equal care.

Typical roof tiles

That's the wall there going back towards the left... quite a long walk.

Another view of the wall. To the right you can see people walking along. There is one of many towers in the distance, and then the wall makes a left turn.

This is one of my favorite staircases up to the top of a tower. Many of the others are made of wood, but this one is entirely iron.

Girona Cathedral - I'll have to count the steps next time.

Handrail of Steps up to the Girona Cathedral 

I found a little street alongside the cathedral and walked up to explore it. It ends at a closed wall that I can only guess accesses part of the cathedral. This is my view of the sky from that spot.

A little bit of woods in the middle of the city. I saw several people walking their dogs through here.

The weather has been pretty humid and foggy since I'm here, giving things a very eerie appearance.