Blog: I Think It's This Way» Adios Girona

Adios Girona

Kris — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:50:12 +0000

Well that’s it for our trip to Europe this year. Amsterdam and Girona were both great and Michelle and I agree that we may return at some point in the future. We are not looking forward to the flights so much, but Victoria is a great place to go home to and it will be nice to be back. See you all soon.

Here are some parting images from Saturday, our last day, in Girona.

On our last day in Girona we did a walk around downtown starting with the old quarter. You can click on this image to the map on the Garmin website if you are interested.

Part of the old wall around Girona.

A doorway at the oldest building still standing on the property of Girona University.

Another view of the top of the cathedral in old Girona.

Looking northeast towards Sant Feliu Church from the cathedral in Girona.

Some nice old houses along the Onyar River in Girona.

The top of this building looked remarkably similar to a gnome or leprechaun hat. Perhaps that was the intention.

Probably should have taken the photo while the plate was still full. Some tapas at Zanpanzar in Girona.

A slightly blurry Zanpanzar goat cheese salad and chorizo in cider.

Dali Day

Kris — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:50:07 +0000

Today (Friday) was Salvador Dali discovery day for Michelle and I. The first stop on Dali day was the Dali Museum in Figueres, about a half-hour train trip north of Girona. As I think I may have mentioned in one of my Amsterdam blog posts, I am not much of an art aficionado. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy art; I do, but you won’t find me hanging out in museums or galleries for hours on end. With that said, we agreed that we would have spent more time in the Dali Museum in Figueres if we had the time to spend; it was really cool.

Second stop for the day was going to be somewhere on the Costa Brava (Mediterranean). In the end we decided that we would continue with the Dali action and head to Portlligat, where the Dali house is located. To get there we took a bus from Figueres to Cadaques, which ended up taking about an hour and stopped to pick people up and drop them off in a number of places along the way including Roses. Frankly the bus ride was kind of boring, except for the stretch from Roses to Cadaques over some significant coastal mountains on pretty narrow road.

After arriving in Cadaques we walked to the Dali house in Portlligat (a couple kms) and managed to get in without the recommended reservation; only small groups can go through the house at any given time. Not a whole lot of Dali’s art here, but it was very interesting none-the-less. The house still contains furniture and other stuff that was there when he and his wife lived there. Beyond the contents of the house, its structure and location are very interesting and surely would have been a great place to live and work. Unfortunately, my photos of the Dali house don’t really do it justice. I’m not sure that the house in itself is a reason to travel here, but if you’re planning on visiting northeast Spain, it would be worth a look.

We ended up getting back to Girona around 9pm and stopped in at Zapanzar for some tasty Basque/Spanish food. Maybe we’ll get some food pics tomorrow.

Here are the photos we took while we were on our Dali journey today. A map of our little walk around Cadaques and Portlligat is also included.

A map of our little walk around Cadaques and Portlligat while visiting the Dali house. Click to see a map on the Garmin website.

A picture of a picture of Dali that was hanging in his house in Portlligat.

Passing through a nice open space in downtown Figueres on our way to the Dali Museum. Michelle thought the old dudes hanging out on the benches were cute.

Eggs! This is one of the outside walls of the Dali Museum in Figueres.

The lower portion of one of the pieces in the Dali Museum courtyard. My photos from the Dali Museum and house are not really that spectacular. If you're interested in nice photos of Dali stuff do some Internet surfing, or better yet, visit Catalunya.

Part of another exhibit in the Dali Museum. This is not quite the intended vantage point for the piece; there was a horde of school kids blocking my access to said vantage point.

Look out for the octopus!

Heading over the mountains from Roses to Cadaques on our way to the Dali house in Portlligat. We were glad that the brakes on the bus seemed to be working fine.

Looking down one of the main streets in Cadaques. Nice and sunny today, but not too warm.

Downtown Cadaques on a sunny November day.

Wow, they have boats in Portlligat. We did the finger in the water test and it became clear why nobody was swimming today.

My photos inside the Dali house didn't really turn out that well, but here is one of an unfinished piece in his studio.

More eggs at the Dali house. Michelle insisted that I get in this one.

Not a great view of it, but this piece was called 'Christ of the Rubbish'.

A view through the olive trees from one of Dali's patios. Not too shabby.

Not sure if these have a name. Let's call them 'The Heads'. This is at the Dali house again.

Michelle getting her ass kissed at the Dali house in the pool courtyard.

Another photo from the pool courtyard at the Dali house. Given Michelle's love of snakes, I'm not sure why she is looking longingly at this one.

Ohhh, I see, it's just a soft, fuzzy, toothless snake.

Looking back towards Dali's backyard and 'The Heads' while walking back to Cadaques from Portlligat.

Not much daylight left for our Dali excursion. Looking eastish from downtown Cadaques.

Streetlight in Cadaques at sunset. After this was taken, it was back on the bus to Figueres/Girona.

Last Bike Ride in Girona

Kris — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Today was the last of our three days with the bike rentals. We’ll be hiking for the remainder of our days here in Girona. Thankfully, the sun was out again this morning, which made it easier for me to justify going out for a bike ride with soggy shoes from yesterday. Michelle decided to take a rest day, so no riding for her today.

I chose a route with more hills than our previous outings and while this meant some suffering, I was rewarded with awesome downhill and beautiful, quiet rural roads for almost the whole ride. This was the kind of riding we cyclists dream of. Click here to view a map and GPS data from my ride today.

Time for foods for us. You might like to know that there is a sweet thunder storm going on here right now. Don’t worry though we have our umbrellas.

Here is a map and pictures from my ride today.

A map of my bike ride today. Click to view the GPS data on the Garmin website.

Looking northwest towards Girona from partway up the climb to Els Angels. Beautiful, but painful all at the same time.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's up the climb I go, with sweat in eyes and pain in legs, hi ho, hi ho...

At the top of the first climb today was the church at Els Angels and some pretty nice views.

Ahhh, what a pretty view. This is looking east or northeast I believe, and yes, that is the Mediterranean in the distance.

Looking west methinks from Els Angels. That there is my trusty rental steed.

After a nice decsent wondering if I would become German sports car roadkill, I arrived at the tiny village of Madremanya.

Madremanya; we like to keep our religious icons safe or imprisoned depending on your point of view.

Madremanya from slightly around the corner from the imprisoned religious icon.

At the end of this straight section of road was a photographer shooting in my direction. I suspect I was not something he wanted in his photo.

Heading into Monells and more fine Catalonian backroads.

The road between Madremanya and the start of the next climb up to Santa Pellaia was awesome.

More countryside church action, this time from Sant Sardurni de l'Heura.

If you know about names on roads and who this one belongs to, consider yourself a cycling fan. P.S. George would have completed this climb way faster than me.

Until they invent windshield wipers for the inside of sunglass lenses, this is what I'm stuck doing to avoid sweating all over them.

Looking northeast from the top of the second climb of the day (at Santa Pellaia). More or less all downhill from here back to Girona.

for

Journey to the Edge of the Med

Kris — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:42:31 +0000

A slightly less impressive day today in terms of weather, but we didn’t let that stop us from venturing out on the bikes towards Sant Feliu de Guixols on the Mediterranean. Getting to Sant Feliu de Guixols is pretty straightforward if you’re driving, and according to the information we have on hand only about 30km from where we are staying. At the start we tried a bit of the bike pathway to the coast, but decided that since it was gravel and we had road bikes we would stick to the roads. The secondary roads were great; nice and quite, albeit hilly. Other roads like the C65 highway was not quite as nice, but did the job (on some stretches bikes and other slow moving vehicles are prohibited). Our ride ended up being about 85km.

Ordinarily, one might think that visiting a seaside Mediterranean town would be quite exciting, but in this case we had a few things working against us: one it was threatening rain while we were in Sant Feliu de Guixols and the clouds looked even worse in the direction of Girona for our return trip; two, we were in town during siesta time, so it was pretty much a ghost town; and three, it is the fall here and I get the impression that seaside towns are pretty quiet this time of year. So, our stay in Sant Feliu de Guixols was short; we didn’t even stop for lunch, which would have been good since we had some hills to climb on the way back to Girona.

The ride back ended up being pretty good for the most part and the threatening clouds actually made for some pretty views across the valley to the mountains on the other side. Eventually the rain decided to fall (with about 5km remaining) and as an added bonus I got a flat tire with about 3km remaining:( Click here to see a map and GPS data for our ride on the Garmin website.

Here are a few pics from the ride today.

Map of our route to Sant Feliu de Guixols on the Mediterranean. Click the image to see a map and GPS data on the Garmin website.

Ohhh, isn't that a cute little hay shed in the Spanish countryside? The tree seems a bit off-kilter though.

Ohhh, isn't that a cute little church in the Spanish countryside?

If you could see Michelle's face you might be able to lip read an expletive of some sort.

Heading downhill towards Sant Feliu de Guixols. It's pretty hard to see in this photo, but the Mediterranean is just visible in the distance.

Arrival in Sant Feliu de Guixols; surprisingly none of the locals came out to great us.

Looking in a southeast direction along what I think is the main beach in Sant Feliu de Guixols. By the businesses located along this strip, this is definitely a touristy spot.

Looking in a northeast direction along the main beach in Sant Feliu de Guixols. Those clouds don't look too good.

A fancy looking casino along the beach strip in Sant Feliu de Guixols.

Uhhh, hope it doesn't rain. The backroads in Spain are quite nice for riding; they're curvy, hilly, quite, and the pavement is good.

Rolling in Girona

Kris — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Where oh where has my Internet gone? Our current accommodation doesn’t have Internet access, and while it is not a necessity, it’s my opinion that it can certainly be useful while on vacation (weather, restaurants, bike rental information, bike/hike route planning, etc.) I think I will add greater priority to Internet access for accommodation on future trips, except of course to countries where I know that is asking a bit much.

After a couple days of wandering around Girona without a whole lot of direction I feel like we are making some headway in terms of settling in, aside from an annoying cold that I have managed to pick up. During some of our downtime over the past couple days, we have noticed that there is some quality programming on the tube here, namely lots of 80’s re-runs (A-Team, Miami Vice, Knight Rider, etc.) as well as Michelle’s favourite, “Medicopter”, a cheesy soap style show based on a helicopter rescue crew in the Pyrenees or the Alps. Interestingly there is also a preponderance of infomercials for vibratory weight-loss devices.

Today we were able to sort out some rental road bikes and went out for a short ride west of town this afternoon. In picking up the bikes we may have found potential accommodation should we ever end up back in Girona. Hotel Historic, seems like a good spot in the heart of old Girona. The guy who helped us with the bikes was happy to tell us all about the professional cyclists who live in Girona including Michael Barry, David Millar, and others. Click here to view GPS map and ride data from our ride.

Anyway, here is a map and a few photos from our lovely ride in the Spanish countryside west of Girona today.

Our bike ride route. Click the image to see the GPS map and data on the Garmin website.

Heading uphill towards Adri on our ride west of Girona. The weather was great again today; 26 Celsius I think.

More uphill while riding through some shrubbery/forest west of Girona.

There were a number of churches in the countryside, all were charming.

Ahhhh, riding in the Spanish countryside... it was good aside from the occasional agricultural smells.

I think this buiding was mostly a barn with some residential space. Not long after this we turned south and headed mostly downhill back to Girona through St. Gregori.

Not my best self-photo, but could be worse.

Yummmm! Nescafe, my favourite and your's too I'm sure.

Hola! We’re in Girona, Spain

Kris — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:28 +0000

Saturday October 31 was a travel day from Amsterdam to Girona. The flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona took a little less than two hours and occurred at the crack of dawn, a wee bit too early we have decided. From the airport in Barcelona, which is pretty fancy by the way, we shuttled over to a train station and started our journey to Girona. The train ride was nothing to rave about since most of what could be seen was either run-down industrial or under construction. With that said, the train itself was modern, comfortable, and cheap. Getting to our vacation rental was easy since the owner who speaks English came to pick us up from the train station. All told, we spent about six hours travelling between Amsterdam and Girona.

Today, November 1, we were out for three or four hours exploring the old part of Girona on foot. November 1 is kind of an important day here and marks the end of the cultural festival Fires de Sant Narcis. I can’t say too much more about it since I don’t understand the Spanish information I have on hand that well. When I get some Internet action, which is lacking in our vacation rental, I will probably do some more research. For now, I can say that downtown Girona was crazy busy today with hordes of people milling about the streets checking out art vendors and other attractions. While we weren’t navigating the crowds and attractions, we walked along most of the remaining wall that protected the old city.

Overall impressions of Girona so far: nice weather (sunny and 20-25 Celsius so far); interesting old quarter; interesting surrounding geography; tapas shouldn’t be hard to find; almost no bike traffic in comparison to Amsterdam – except for a surprising number of fairly serious looking cross-country mountain bikers.

At this point I suspect that I won’t be doing daily blog posts due to a lack of Internet access in our accommodation, but we’ll see. Maybe the library has internet access and is a cool place to hang out while I put together blog posts.

The photos that follow appear in the order that they were taken today.

Tourist map of old Girona. The wall that we hiked on is shown in red.

Some giants in that were probably part of a parade for Fires. Unfortunately, we didn't see any others.

So you think you can dance - Girona. What appeared to be a judged dance competition in Girona.

A Girona Fires dance team getting ready for the big show.

Busy, busy in downtown Girona for Fires.

Oh no, Michelle has been distracted by shiny things.

Looking north up the Onyar River in downtown Girona.

Sheesh, there's a lot of people out for this Fires thing.

A group of women making some lacy type thingies.

Sant Feliu Church in downtown Girona.

There are some hills here in Girona. This part of the old wall around Girona heading east.

Looking southwest down into old Girona from the north end of the wall.

Looking east from the wall up the Sant Daniel Valley.

A wee bit of trail near John Lennon Gardens in Girona.

The Monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants and some other buildings in the north end of old Girona near the cathedral.

Some old-school architecture near the cathedral.

That's me heading towards the cathedral.

The Cathedral in old Girona.

Close up of the front of the Cathedral in Girona.

Michelle and I getting close to the south end of the wall and the end of our walk.

The Final Countdown For Our Trip to Europe

Kris — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:45:35 +0000

Europe; not as cool as the continent, unless you can time travel.

I loved Europe… when I was in grade 8. I’m talking about the band here, not the continent. Well that was then. Not surprisingly, my interest in hair bands has faded, but I suppose to be fair to the hair I should probably give a listen to their newer music before dismissing them.

My interest in Europe the continent, on the other hand, has not faded. It’s been a long time since I was there last and now the time has finally come to make my triumphant return. I’m sure those europeans will be in the streets waving and throwing stuff in celebration. More realistically, the arrival will likely be much more subdued. Probably the only reason there will be waving or throwing of stuff will be because I am violating euro traffic etiquette in some way.

So in case you haven’t guessed by now, in the not-too-distant future Michelle and I will be off to Europe (the continent, not the band) for a vacation of sorts. More specifically, we’ll be in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Girona in the northeast of Spain. I personally, don’t have much of an agenda while for while we’re in Europe, but am hoping to do some bike riding and running. We’ve had some great suggestions for places to see, but whether or not we make it those places, remains to be seen.

If all goes well I should be able to fire off some blog posts with pictures and such, but who knows, that could change for a variety of reasons.

Stay tuned for updates.
– Spanish for “stay tuned for updates” according to the Ipod translator; holy crap, Spanish is so easy, it’s just like English.

Amsterdam in relation to London and Paris for those who might be geography challenged.

Map of Spain with Girona's location denoted by the 'A' bubble.