Girona Temps de Flores May 2015

It's early summer and the medieval city of Girona in Catalunya is a riot of colour for the annual Temps de Flores. During this week, 9th - 17th May 2015, all public buildings and many private houses are decorated with floral displays and everything is open to the public for free. 

Summer has arrived early and with the warm weather, we decided to head into town after spending yesterday on the beach. We definitely made the right decision, as it seemed to us, by the number of cars going in the other direction as we drove in, that most of Girona was heading for the coast ! Parking was relatively easy and to start with, a short walk to la plaça del culo del lion, otherwise known as la plaça de St Feliu to watch the Castellers.


This tradition of building human towers dating back to the 1700's has been declared by UNESCO to be amongst the "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". There were three "colles" (teams) competing and although very much a team event, they all help each other supporting the base of the towers. The motto of the Castellers is "Força, equilibri, valor i seny" (Strength, balance, courage and common sense).... As I suffer  from Vertigo, I have to say that I agree with at least three out of the four :)

Watching the teams organise and build these human Castles is really impressive and not something to be missed on a visit of Catalunya. It is incredibly popular with locals and visitors alike, but you need to get into position early if you want a good view. They display in most towns and villages during fiestas and festive days although not so much during the heat of the summer months.


They can reach a suicidal 10 levels high and the tower is complete when the "enxaneta" (rider), usually a small child, climbs over the top and back down the other side. They do sometimes collapse, although thankfully not very often and there have been remarkably few casualties over the years. All the enxanetas now wear helmets, so there is at least some "seny"....

The old town of Girona, which dates to Roman times, is mainly traffic free due to the small narrow medieval streets and is packed with churches, parks, roman baths, museums, bars and restaurants. During the Temps de Flores all the museums and normal attractions are open to the public for free. For the rest of the year, it's well worth purchasing a multi entry ticket which allows unlimited access to most of the attractions. Contact the Girona tourist office for more information http://www.girona.cat/turisme/eng/activitats.php

On the left, the cloisters at St Pere de Galligants. This was a Benedictine Abby built in 992 although the majority of the church nowadays dates from the 1100's. The octagonal bell tower (right) has become one of the most photographed iconic views of the Girona city skyline is one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Girona. Since 1857, it has been home to the Archeological Museum of Catalunya.

Next to the bell tower of St Pere de Gallagants, the Cathedral is the most prominent landmark in Girona. There has been a place of worship on this site since the Roman times, but a primitive Christian church has been documented to exist here from before the Islamic conquest of Iberia after which it was converted into a mosque in 717. The city was reconquered in 785 and the church was reconsecrated in 908.

In 1064, the church and its cloister were built in Romanesque style and the bell tower was completed in 1117.

The complex was redesigned by Pere Sacoma in 1312 and the project finally started in 1416. The new design consisted of a big Gothic nave, the widest Gothic nave in the world — 22.98 m — and the second widest nave of all styles after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The elevation is 35 metres (115 ft).

During the Temps de Flores, it is free to enter the Cathedral. (For the rest of the year, the admission fee is quite extortionate and photographs are not allowed !) As such, be prepared for a long queue !

If it wasn't for its more famous neighbour (Barcelona), Girona would be a tourist destination in its own right. A beautiful, small, walkable, city filled with medieval cobbled streets and stone arches and packed to the gunnels with shops, restaurants and bars. You'll feel very safe in Girona without the same problems of the pickpockets that plague Barcelona during the summer months. Being just 30 minutes away by car, it's a good choice for a day out away from the beach scene.

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About me… I have lived in Calonge (province of Girona) on the Costa Brava since 2003 after retiring as a pilot from the british Royal Air Force. My passions are hiking, biking, skiing, photography and discovering and sharing the hidden cultural treasures of this beautiful country. My day job entails managing a luxury self-catering rental Villa, Casa Cal Domino, and in my search for new and interesting things to do for my clients whilst they are here on holiday, I have been genuinely overawed by the beauty and diversity of this land. I’m not leaving any time soon. I love it here and I hope to inspire you to come and discover this wonderful country for yourself.

Not quite Catalunya.... A Christmas in Galicia

Breaking with tradition, I ventured out of my mediterranean comfort zone in Catalunya and drove 12 hours north west to Galicia on the Atlantic Coast of Spain for Christmas shenanigans with Marta and her family and friends. Having lived in Catalunya for the last 10 years, nothing really could have prepared me for the change in tempo. I’m rather used to a slower pace of life on the Costa Brava and meeting Marta’s friends and relatives for the first time over the winter holidays was a whirlwind gastronomic and social experience that has left me utterly exhausted after 2 weeks away. I am very pleased to be home again, but somewhat sad to leave Galicia. This Spanish county, which I have never visited before, is so strange and yet so familiar to me with it’s Cornish-like Landscape and Celtic and Viking roots. I am absolutely enchanted with the friendliness of the people and their Joie de vivre. You can compare Galicia to many parts of the world, but put it all together, and Galicia is Galicia. Utterly unique….. 

 The 12 hour road trip… passing the mountains somewhere to the north of Madrid

Now that I am back, I have been explaining “Galicia” to my friends in Calonge and nearly always start by saying, “One of the things Galicia is famous for is….”. Well, one of those things is its quite shocking climate. I am unashamedly acclimatised to the mediterranean Coast and Galicia in the winter is rather nippy and very damp. Quite like England….. Luckily, we were spared the worst of the Galician weather. It didn’t rain once and although colder than I was used to, we were blessed with the most fantastic sunsets almost every day.

The Puente de Rande in the Ría de Vigo in between Pontevedra and Vigo.

For the majority of the trip, we based ourselves in Vigo on the West Coast in a fantastic apartment owned by some of Marta’s friends, Celeste and Ruben. I really liked Vigo; a small city of 350,000 situated on a hill overlooking the bay with a lively old town centre. Vigo reminds me so much of a cross between San Fransisco with its suspension bridge and Newfoundland with the Celtic flavour and possibly Vancouver with lots of inlets and sheltered bays. In the 16th Century, it was considered a fairly safe haven  as it’s harbours and water inlets were easily defendable. The most famous assault on Vigo was by non other than Britain’s very own Sir Francis Drake between 1585 and 1589. I don’t think that he managed to take the town though.

With all things Galician, you have to get your head around the quantity and quality here. Both with the food and the people. The seafood here is, quite frankly, outstanding and the people are equally impressive. Warm, friendly, open and very, very loud. I found the accent easy to understand and to my ears at least, almost Italian sounding…especially in the north. The rest of Spain says that when Galicians speak, they sing !

Marta had a long list of things for me to try on my inaugural trip to this part of Spain. These are “empanadas”. A small snackette that we had with a mid morning coffee. One based on a filling made from Tuna and the other based on Octopus. Price for two coffees and two huge slices of empanada….less than €5.00 :)

We didn’t have much time for sightseeing to be honest. My Christmas was a never-ending round of lunches, drinks, dinners and parties. I was given one day off to visit the town of Baiona just to the south of Vigo. This was the first landfall of the ships returning from the expedition led by Christopher Columbus (not my favourite historical character) to the New World and the occupants of this town were the first people to be aware of the existence of the Americas….Well, after the original settlers from Asia of course… and the vikings…. Probably….

The seafront at Baiona. Galicia was first settled by the Celts and their influence can be easily seen not just in the various well preserved ruins dotted around the place, but by the customs of the people. The traditional musical instrument here is the “Gaita”, more familiar to me as the Bagpipe.

Classic architecture in Galicia.

Galicia was originally settled by the Celts after the Iron Age and inhabited the the Romans from the 1st Century BC to AD 500 before being reclaimed by the Celts after the fall of the Roman Empire. Much like Celtic Britain, the Galicians and the Romans had a difficult time together…. Maybe one of the reasons why the place feels so familiar to me is that a large proportion of the Celtic population of Britain emigrated by sea to Galicia during the Saxon and Viking invasions.

The Celtic ruins at Santa Tecla en A Guarda on the Spanish / Portuguese border.

Galicia was ruled by the Visigoths from the 4th to the 6th centuries and after the Catholicization of the Spanish Kings the biggest event to have influenced the balance of power in Northern Spain was the discovery of an Ark which allegedly contained the remains of an Apostle, a certain Saint James no less. After a church was built on the holy site, the arrival of a steady supply of faithful pilgrims insured an equally steady supply of wealth and power to the area.

Although Galicia is poetically known as the “Country of a thousand rivers” I think that it is probably most famous for it’s fantastic seafood. One of the most famous dishes, and my personal favourite is ”Polbo a Feira”

Mmmmm “Polbo a Feira”… Octopus with sweet Paprika and olive oil.

One of my least favourite dishes is “Percebes” or the Goose Necked Barnacle. These are prized here and regularly fetch €100 per kg at market. They grow on the rocky coastline along the north coast of Spain and west France and are quite dangerous to collect as those searching for them have to brave the fierce Atlantic waves and unforgiving rocks that they grow on and archaeological evidence suggests that they have been harvested by hand (as they still are) for the last 10,000 years. I have been told many times that I eat with my eyes…. true, true, true….these things are absolutely horrible…

Percebes… the flavour of the sea :)

Un Cruceiro. These small monuments were erected as a place to pray before the community had the money to build a church. Sometimes they were built on Pagan sites to Christianize them. You see these dotted around the smaller villages, still very well preserved.

A replica of the boat “Carabela Pinta” from the America expedition on permanent display at Baiona harbour. The Captain, Martin Alonso Pinzón arrived in Baiona in March 1493 with the news of the New World.

A typical crazy Galician Family….. Marta, her brother Carlos and sister-in-law Elena

A typical crazy Galician woman with a typical unadventurous Englishman walking along the beach in December at Corrubedo in the  Dunas de Corrubedo National Park on the Rias Baixas coastline.

A Panorama of the fantastic beach at Corrubedo.

The fishing village of Corrubedo.

Not a bad way to spend Christmas….

The Celtic ruins at Castro Baroña.

Hanging on for dear life.

Marta enjoying my vertigo.

The Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is named after Saint James the Great (patron saint of Gardeners apparently). This is the final destination of “the way of St James”, a leading Catholic pilgrimage from all over Europe. On the left hand side of the photo you can see the huge “Botafumeiro” installed in 1604 which (not being religious I have to copy this from another website) is “a famous thurible used for burning incense. It is one of the largest Censers in the world weighing 80 kg and measuring 1.60 mts in height suspended 21 mts from the ceiling. It is loaded with 40 kgs of charcoal and incense lifted into position by 8 people and has a 65 mt arc when at full swing”. Look on YouTube for video footage of a complete lack of health and safety at work… 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Uj4hQSkZM

There have been a number of accidents over the years, most notoriously during a visit by Princess Catherine of Aragon (of Henry VIII fame and presumably before he chopped her head off) when the Botafumeiro flew out of the Platerias high window in 1499.

The exterior of the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.

The view from the cathedral over the council offices and the holy hotel.

Marta enjoying my immersion into religious territory.

Marta and me suffering with the vertigo.

One of the beautiful side streets in the old town in Santiago de Compostela.

The Cathedral clock tower.

A Capilla inside the Cathedral.

At the end of our stay in Vigo, we visited some of her friends in Amido, a small village made up of just a handful of old stone houses in A Coruña in the north of Galicia. This was a traditional Galician house built in the early 20th century in rural Galica and untouched by modern life. Marco was born in this house and it is still used as a weekend retreat. I liked it there…. quiet, lots of land to grow his own food and surrounded by nature. No WIFI though :(

Marco and Sese. This room is called a “Lareira” a typical place to have the fireplace… Somewhere to heat the house, cook the food, smoke chorizos hanging above and generally “hang out”. There was also an old stone bread oven and behind the wall, a small door to throw kitchen waste to the pigs that lived behind the house. I loved it.

This is probably the most famous icons of Galicia. “O Hórreo”, a granary built of wood or stone, raised from the ground by pilars and orientated to take advantage of local winds to dry maize. The large flat stones on the pillars and designed as such so that rodents can’t get access to the granary. At the end of the day, a trip to the coast and another fantastic sunset. 

The Costa de Ferrol at El Faro de Meiras.

Sunset at Praia de Valdoviño.

Crazy Galicians + one.

The Lagoa da Frouxeira in Valdoviño.

So, to sum it up, a genuinely enjoyable experience for me. I can completely understand (figuratively and literally speaking) where Marta is coming from now. Having lived both in Andalusia and Catalunya for many years, I find that Galicia is unique and unlike anything else that I have experienced in Spain before. The people are (quite rightly) immensely proud of their own culture and heritage but they manage to incorporate this within a Spanish identity too. I will miss the seafood (Centollo, Boy, Cigales, Camarons, Navajas, Vieiras and Zamburiñas) but not the Percebes though. No, these you can keep….

The twin peaks of Turó de l'Home and Les Agudes and the Fira de St Narcis de Girona

It’s now well into Autumn, the leaves are changing colour and for the last week in October, Girona hosts it’s biggest and most spectacular party of the year….. The Fira de St Narcis. Girona is the capital city of the province of Girona in northern Catalunya and with it’s colourful riverside houses and ancient architecture, it is a popular destination in it’s own right in spite of being just 100 kilometres from Barcelona, Catalunya’s Capital. Situated on the confluence of the rivers Onyar and Ter, it is naturally divided into the modern city to the west and the old town or Jewish quarter to the east. Girona is ancient…. the old quarter is packed full of museums, narrow traffic-free cobbled streets, Roman and Jewish buildings, churches, bars and restaurants and is well worth a visit for the day.

First things first though, I took a group of friends hiking for the day in the Montseny mountains, a protected green space situated on the coast in between Girona and Barcelona.

At the Font de Passavets near Santa Fé de Montseny, there’s a handy parking area and after a bite to eat and a coffee, we headed towards the peak of Turó l’Home on a 2 hour circular hike through beech and pine forests until we reached the top of the mountain at 1712mt (5620ft). It’s an easy hike, suitable for children and well documented through the Wikiloc website http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/home.do 

Some spectacular views today above the cloud and a good place to have a picnic. From here, it’s a short walk along a ridge that connects the mountain top at Turó de l’Home with its sister peak at Les Agudes, also spookily at an altitude of 1712mts.

From here you can see the coastline of the Costa Brava, the mountains of Monserrat, famous for it’s monastery, spectacular views of the Pyrenees and the iconic mountain at Pedraforca and after a pleasant 90 minute walk through forest tracks down the other side of Les Agudes, you arrive back at the parking at Font de Passavets. 

Girona has been packed with people all week, here to visit the street markets, Gigants, Correfocs, chiringuitos (street bars) and live music and today, they have come to see the Castellers. Given UNESCO status in 2010 as “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”, these human towers are generally static, but today, they form a four-tier human pillar that runs up the steps to the entrance to the Cathedral. You’ll need to get to your spot well before hand though as this is very popular, but we think, well worth the wait. 

This is the land that health and safety forgot. The top most Casteller is called the “enxaneta”, typically a small child of 5 or 6 years old. The enxanetas now wear safety helmets, and today, thankfully, all the Castells were “Descarregat” (completed successfully without mishap). They do sometimes collapse, although there are always plenty of people at the bottom, called the “Pinya” to catch them.

After the Castellers, the cathedral square empties and the crowds head across the river to the Devesa forest where there is live music and chiringuitos selling food and beer until the early hours. We decided to stay in a chiringuito which was raising money for the deaf community. Two of my favourite things…raising money for good causes and drinking beer… Girona is a small and friendly city. You can easily walk around the old quarter in an afternoon and there doesn’t appear to be the same problems with pick-pockets and tourist traps that plague Barcelona during the summer months. Whilst we were waiting for the Castellers, we found plenty of people willing to be subjected to my bad Spanish or eager to practice their English.

During the days, the city is full of stalls selling paintings and jewellery etc and you can easily spend a morning here browsing the shops and I recommend a long lazy lunch in one of the many restaurants in the old town, especially this place in front of the Staircase which leads you to the Convent of Sant Domènec. This is one of the most famous and most photographed parts of the old town and the restaurant charges a very modest €15 for a menú del dia. 

On the last day of the Fira (fair in Catalan), it’s time for the fireworks. We made our way up onto the old fortified walls to the north east of the city for the best view in town…

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About me… I have lived in Calonge (province of Girona) on the Costa Brava since 2003 after retiring as a pilot from the british Royal Air Force. My passions are hiking, biking, skiing, photography and discovering and sharing the hidden cultural treasures of this beautiful country. My day job entails managing a luxury self-catering rental Villa, Casa Cal Domino, and in my search for new and interesting things to do for my clients whilst they are here on holiday, I have been genuinely overawed by the beauty and diversity of this land. I’m not leaving any time soon. I love it here and I hope to inspire you to come and discover this wonderful country for yourself.