Back to Catalunya
I had booked a discount airline flight to Girona-Barcelona (for 30 EUR), departing at 8:45am from Paris-Beauvais airport on Monday, September 20th. However, I did not realize that my only means of getting to the airport was an airline shuttle departing from west of the Arc de Triomphe area at 5:30 am. This was a challenge since the metro is not in service at that time and the night buses are rather infrequent and difficult to figure out. My last hostel was in the heart of the Latin Quarter and I could find nowhere to sleep closer to my desitnation. In the end I was forced to pay 15 EUR for a taxi to the shuttle stop, since I had a long day ahead of me and wanted as much sleep as possible.
Aside from this issue my Ryanair flight to Girona was rather smooth and took only an hour and 15 minutes flying time. I wandered the steep narrow streets of ancient Girona with my backpack, expecting to take a bus to Lleida that afternoon, which was to bring me closer to the mountains for my planned hike. However, I later learned that I would inevitably miss my connection from LLeida that day and so it did not matter whether I stayed overnight in Girona or Lleida. Since I liked what I saw of Girona, I opted to stay there, at a youth hostel that doubled as a university dormitory and was therefore a quite lively place. This left me with most of the day to explore Girona and prepare for my big hike.
Girona, with its medieval old town, massive town wall, steep cobblestone alleys and a quiet ambience was a big contrast to Paris with its flat wide avenues and throngs of cars and people. The chime of the multiple clock towers resonated in the tunnel-like streets, creating a powerful illusion that you were still in the era of the Spanish Inquisition. I managed to lose myself several times because what looked like intersections on my map were often roads that passed high above one another or were blocked by an impenetrable wall or moat. Finally I found my way to the path circling the city atop the town wall, and walked along it high above the town, enjoying a great view of the surrounding valleys.
At night, the cathedral, occupying the highest spot in the town and brightly illuminated, was a riveting sight. In typical Spanish fashion, many outdoor cafes and restaurants were open well past midnight, and I enjoyed relaxing at one of them with a glass of red wine and a nice Australian chap named Christopher, who was one of my suite-mates at the hostel. The prices here were more than reasonable, the food quite good, and the atmosphere terrific.
Aside from this issue my Ryanair flight to Girona was rather smooth and took only an hour and 15 minutes flying time. I wandered the steep narrow streets of ancient Girona with my backpack, expecting to take a bus to Lleida that afternoon, which was to bring me closer to the mountains for my planned hike. However, I later learned that I would inevitably miss my connection from LLeida that day and so it did not matter whether I stayed overnight in Girona or Lleida. Since I liked what I saw of Girona, I opted to stay there, at a youth hostel that doubled as a university dormitory and was therefore a quite lively place. This left me with most of the day to explore Girona and prepare for my big hike.
Girona, with its medieval old town, massive town wall, steep cobblestone alleys and a quiet ambience was a big contrast to Paris with its flat wide avenues and throngs of cars and people. The chime of the multiple clock towers resonated in the tunnel-like streets, creating a powerful illusion that you were still in the era of the Spanish Inquisition. I managed to lose myself several times because what looked like intersections on my map were often roads that passed high above one another or were blocked by an impenetrable wall or moat. Finally I found my way to the path circling the city atop the town wall, and walked along it high above the town, enjoying a great view of the surrounding valleys.
At night, the cathedral, occupying the highest spot in the town and brightly illuminated, was a riveting sight. In typical Spanish fashion, many outdoor cafes and restaurants were open well past midnight, and I enjoyed relaxing at one of them with a glass of red wine and a nice Australian chap named Christopher, who was one of my suite-mates at the hostel. The prices here were more than reasonable, the food quite good, and the atmosphere terrific.
posted by Dmitri Evseev at 1:12 PM
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