This weekend, Andrea and I decided we needed to do something productive. So, instead of walking through all the shops in central Barcelona, we hopped on a train bound for Girona, a city about 100 km northeast of Barça. It was our first time on the real train, RENFE (the metro doesn't count), and we were both a little nervous. But we figured we were going the right direction when we started to see grass and gas stations, that's how you know you're leaving the city. After about an hour and a half, we got off at the Girona station with zero sense of what to do next. I had researched some attractions in the city and some neighboring areas, but conveniently left the list right on my desk next to my laptop on my way out the door. So, we decided the best thing to do was get a map, yes, we are college students. After ten minutes of contemplating between the tourist guide book (in french because there was no english) and the standard, un-foldable paper map, we decided the latter was the more economical and useful selection. We purchased our map and were on our way into the city.
We walked for about ten minutes before deciding we actually might want to consult the map we had just purchased. But of course it wouldn't really be a trip with Andrea and Keri without getting a little lost. Personally I think it makes things interesting, Andrea doesn't necessarily agree...side note...if someone asks us for directions to a certain place, we usually start with..."oh yeah. we passed it that one time we got lost. no, not that time, the time after that."...anyways, we sat down with our map for a few minutes, figured out where we were, planned a route and headed towards the Barrio Vell ('Old Neighborhood' in Catalan) in search of las murallas. On the way, we encountered a river, lined with bright colored buildings, and of course had to stop on the bridge to snap a couple photos. After a bit more walking, we found our way to la muralla de Girona. The muralla is a stone wall, constructed between the 9th and 15th centuries, that surrounds the old part of the city. We climbed the stairs and walked on the wall for about 40 minutes. From the top you could see all of Girona. It was such a nice day and it was really cool to get an aerial view of where we had just walked. When we came down from the wall, we walked around aimlessly for a minute or two (because we had no idea where we were) before happening upon the Catedral de Girona, quite an impressive building. We had been able to see it from the wall, along with the Torre de Girona, but up-close and personal was a much cooler view.
From the catedral we walked back down into the city area, grabbing lunch and some dessert on the way. By the time we got back to the train station, we were exhausted and Andrea slept most of the train ride home. All in all, it was a really great day trip! Next weekend is Sevilla and Cadiz with CIEE so that should be fun! love and miss everyone at home! Love, Keri
PS. I put up about 100 new pictures from Girona. If you want explanation of anything, just lemme know! :)
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