26 October 2014

Girona Day Two was much like Girona Day One because that was a good plan

My first day in Girona worked out so well that I set out to do much the same on my second day, which is just as well as there was not a lot else to do there. There was probably a small museum there but Girona was a small town and did not rise to a large gallery of modern art, for example.

It was not that small though and despite extensive walking the day before there were sections of the wall and the town itself that I had not trod and I set out to correct that.



I rejoined the wall somewhere towards its northern point and headed east and south towards the point that I had left it yesterday. This section of the town was somewhat scruffier than the centre and that made it just as interesting but in a different way.

As always, I had lots of rooftop shots to sort through and I finally chose this one for the unusual chimneys at the bottom and the blue crane in the centre.



A little further on the view got even scruffier and perhaps even a little less European looking as the growing number of flat roofs reminded me of places like Cairo.



I found myself in some of the same places I had been the day before though I was travelling in different questions as I did so. On my first day I had walked passed the bottom of these steps and this time I joined them through the arch on the left as I was walking down the hill.

I was thinking about lunch at that time and the tables on the steps were too tempting to miss. The restaurant there was a little posher than I usually go to on my walking days, it's not the price that is the problem it is the time that good service takes, but the spot was so good and I was not rushing anywhere so I stayed for a long leisurely lunch. The restaurant was lovely and it was a unexpected bonus to find when the bill arrived that the wine was included in the price of the meal.



The Eiffel may be the prettiest bridge in Girona but there are many and I walked across as many as I good both to enjoy the bridge and to see different aspects of the river and the buildings crowded around it. I like this bridge for its calm functional simplicity and for the colourful buildings behind it.



Somewhere in my wanderings around the north-east side of the old town I came across this attractive building which I have included here as an example of the grander classical architecture that was on show among the more shabby rectangular blocks that dominated some parts of the town.



Crossing the river always caused me to take more photographs and this one was taken from one of the bridges at the north end of the town looking south. The centre of the town, and the Eiffel bridge, are on the curve of the river and beyond.



As with the first day, the second ended with a surprise suggested by the hotel who alerted me to the funfair in a park just to the north of the hotel. It was only 100m or so away but was well screened by trees. I had seen part of a big wheel peering over the trees when I was on the wall but had not realised that there was anything else there.

The scale of the fun fair surprised me. It was a great deal bigger than I expected and many of the rides were duplicated several times across the site. This was true even of the biggest rides, like this one.



I was also more used to fairs in fairfields but this one was in a park full of trees and I wondered how they had managed to construct some of the rides around them. The trees also meant that it was hard to judge the size of the park and to find your way around. I had spotted this roller coaster ages before I found a way to get to it and it disappeared from view when I was looking for it.

The place was large but it was also packed with families and youngsters, despite it pushing 10pm. The busyness and the lights, movement and music from the rides made it an exciting place to be and I had a very enjoyable half an hour or more just walking around looking at the rides.

To cap the evening off there was a very good tapas restaurant nearby, Txalaka which I had spotted on my way there.

Girona did more than enough in two days to justify my decision to go there and even left open the possibility of me going back sometime.

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