Top 10 Fun Activities & Games in Girona, Catalonia

Reviewed By Kelleygirl2 - Sarasota, United States

We went to meet our Viator guide Sergio for our Game of Thrones day tour to Girona. We knew the group would be small but were very pleased to see only 6 of us climb into his van for the day long trip (I got the front seat!). Girona is 61 miles north of Barcelona, taking us a little over an hour to get there, park and begin our tour. Dave and I had much anticipated touring this historic medieval city to learn more about its history and to see the sights used in filming the Game of Thrones (GOT). Although Sergio did focus on the GOT, he is an historian which pleased me greatly. The City of Girona was founded by Romans and the Old Town contains one of the best preserved historic architecture in the country. We began by walking the Bridge of St Feliu over the Onyar River into the historic town. A festival was underway to celebrate All Hallows day and market tents were set up and already busy in front of the St. Feliu church. In the creation of the GOT, Girona was transformed into Old Town in King’s Landing and Braavos. We were off on foot to identify these locations. Sergio provided background details and photos of many scenes from the movie, each while standing in front of the location as it is now. The transformation was really quite amazing. Sergio also provided a great deal of history about each location which embellished the background references in the movie as well. Art imitates life? The Benedictine monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, one of the most important Catalan Romanesque landmarks of Girona, was built close to the northern wall of Girona, on the left bank of the Galligants river. It dates from the end of the 10th century and in 1131, Ramón Berenguer the Great (who was the count of Barcelona) made an important donation to the cost of the construction work. The church has a basilica with three naves, the middle of which is covered with a barrel vault and the other two with quadrant vaults and has a perfectly symmetrical eight-sided bell tower. The interior of the historic monastery was used as the citadel in Old Town where Samwell Tarly, accompanied by Gilly and little Sam, wants to train as a Maester. It was November 1, All Saints Day and as we began our walk through this historic part of town, the church bells began tolling to mark the celebration. It was hauntingly beautiful and made the history of this city come alive for me. Our walk through the labyrinthine cobbled streets that wound through alleys, up narrow staircases, archways and passages in El Call, the Jewish Quarter, or Barrio Judio de Girona, is one of the best preserved Jewish Quarters in the world, passing medieval churches and ancient fortresses and their protective walls and towers it was easy to see why this city was chosen as one of the sites to portray the Game of Thrones story. Girona’s Jewish Quarter is located within the Force Vella or mighty Roman fortress built in the 1st century BC. We crossed over a small stone bridge and arrived at the Plaza dels Jurats, a festival square at the base of the cathedral, used in outdoor theater scenes in Braavos. “The bridge between the Plaça dels Jurats and the Sant Pere de Galligants Abbey is used as the bridge in Braavos where the waif, masked as an old woman, stabs Arya.” In reality, the bridge itself has no water under it, and the actual scene of Arya in the water was filmed in a harbor in Northern Ireland. From the Plaza dels Jurats we came to the impressive Cathedral of Saint Mary of Girona and proceeded to climb its equally impressive 86 steps to the balcony. The 14-18 century gothic cathedral dedicated to St Mary stands at the summit of the old town on the scenic Cathedral Plaza. The Cathedral replaced a romanesque cathedral of which only the bell tower and cloister now remain. The impressive Baroque staircase rises theatrically from the plaza to the entrance to the church at its summit where, after we made the steep climb we could really see the grand public space below. This cathedral was used for the Great Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing where Jaime Lannister has a showdown with the High Sparrow. It was also here when Jaime tried to prevent the walk of shame of Queen Margaery. Leaving the cathedral we went through an archway and climbed the steps up behind the cathedral to find the location where blind Arya Stark was begging on the steps on the shaded Bisbe Cartana street. Nearby, the stairs of St Marti Sacosta church is an another filming location in Girona used for the markets in Braavos. “An injured Arya fleeing from the waif rolls down a flight of stairs and overturns several baskets of oranges.” Dating back to the 17th century, the church is known for its unique carvings on its arch and a well preserved baroque facade. At the end of our tour I paid 7 Euro to tour the inside of the Girona Cathedral where I was able to see first hand the cathedral’s Gothic style nave which is spectacularly large, in fact at 72 feet, it is the widest of its kind in the world. The impressive retable of Saint Mary Magdalene from the 14th century on the main altar is made of gilded silver and covered with gem stones and enamels depicting scenes from Christ's life. The church is massive inside but so dark and crowded I was unable to get a good photograph, but the cloister and the arched walkways surrounding the open air courtyard had me intrigued and had much better light. Toward the end of our time in Girona we tried to explore what we could in the little time left to us. That is when I stumbled on the Arab Baths behind the cathedral. There was a small sign indicating the entrance for a cost of 2 Euro. Dave was not interested so I promised to be quick (not easy for me) so inside I went, paid my fee, grabbed a map and began my walk through the labyrinth of rooms. There were four of them, each with a different function, including the ‘fire room’ that heated the baths, a changing room, a small octagonal pool, a sauna and hot and cold rooms. If we only had time… The existence of these medieval public baths in Girona dates back to 1194 and had been occupied by Muslims. In the Middle Ages it was used by Christians and also, in a special room, was used as a mikveh, or ritual bath by the city’s Jews. In 1618 the baths were bought by a community of Capuchin nuns who absorbed these baths into their convent. The baths are called “the best preserved Romanesque public baths currently known.” In 1929 the Girona Provincial Council bought the baths and began the restoration until they were opened to the public in 1932. This site was also used in the GOT filming as a place where Arya hid while fleeing from the waif. We were given an opportunity to explore the commercial Old Town, people watching (Dave’s favorite thing to do), and peeking in shops, (I bought a cool shirt with a Girona fly). Why a fly you might ask? Sergio told us about the legend of St Narcis, patron saint of Girona. Around 1286 the neighboring French had stormed into Girona and were sacking churches and stealing what they could find. When they entered the church of St Felix and opened the tomb of St Narcis, a swarm of stinging flies came out and flew all over the city attacking every single French soldier as they fled the city in terror bringing peace to the city. So of course, a shirt with a fly. As I have begun to do throughout this trip, I photographed many unique doors in Girona and was told that during the war, residents had removed their beautiful doors to keep them safe from the communists who were bombing this city. Thank goodness because these doors, like many in Spain, are so unique it would be a shame to lose them. Before leaving Girona, Sergio had instructed us to meet at Independence Square where he had a little treat for us. When we got there we each were given The Bloody Hand, a frozen red sorbet covered in gold dust and shaped in the form of Jaime’s hand. As you bit into the ‘hand’ you are reminded of the chopping off of Jaime’s hand in GOT. We were not covered in blood but instead our lips and anything that touched the hand were covered in gold. Lunch was next on our GOT tour so we found our van and headed out of Girona to Blanes, located in Catalonia on the north east tip of Spain, about 40 minutes from Girona, reportedly with an “attractive old town with a working fishing port. Its centre is attractive with lots of cafes and restaurants, interesting shops and it has nice long seafront boulevards” however, we did not get to see this charming part of Blanes, our restaurant was located in an unattractive industrial center. Because of this I began to be very worried. However, my fears were soon absolved. Despite the photos of food at the door (a warning to my mind that this place is for tourists only) we went inside and all seven of us were seated immediately at a long table. (We were the only customers at that time). Smiling waiters hovered, poured water and sangria and began to bring a sampling of tapas. First a slice of excellent fresh bread a small sweet tomato and a clove of garlic. We were instructed to rub the garlic on the toasted bread, rub the tomato on the bread, drizzle with a little olive oil and put a slice of thin ham on top. I could have eaten that all day and not had anything else! Next we were served potatoes brava and theirs was the best I’d tasted in Spain. A pasta dish was next followed by a salad, half a potato and an entire fish with an herb and oil sauce. For dessert…yes we managed…Dave had a chocolate cream, I had a creme caramel. Result: we had an amazing authentic Catalan lunch (included in the tour) at the intimate Cala restaurant.