WALKING around the city of Girona in the fading light of a sultry evening, it’s clear why it was used as a location for Game of Thrones.
The second largest city in Catalonia has an exotic otherworldly grandeur that was created through the ages by kings and conquerors.
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As it changed hands over millennia from Romans to Visigoths to Moors and to Charlemagne and Napoleon, its battlements and towers were destroyed and rebuilt.
Gothic spires emerged, Arabic bathhouses were born, landscape gardens laid and the astonishing 500-year-old Jewish Quarter remains intact today.
The city’s Gothic cathedral featured in Game of Thrones and scenes for Braavos, Oldtown and King’s Landing were also filmed here.
Girona often plays second fiddle to the Catalan capital of Barcelona but there’s no good reason for this, beyond football.
Whereas Barcelona has something of an edgy and sometimes dodgy reputation, Girona has no such problems.
This gorgeous city of 100,000 residents is safer and more sedate. Each evening families and couples wander leisurely through its ancient streets.
MEDIEVAL WALLS
They tour the medieval walls, explore the labyrinthine Jewish Quarter and cross the Eiffel Bridge before sitting down in the Placa de la Independencia to enjoy some of the region’s celebrated gastronomy.
One of the traditions here is a late night walk with a fancy ice cream. The “gelateria” stay open to around midnight and offer a fantastic array of flavours and toppings.
After dinner we indulged in some ices and strolled back taking in the city’s atmosphere to the Hotel Ciutat De Girona in the heart of the shopping district. Our modern four-star hotel has beautiful rooms, a spa, sauna and a swimming pool in the basement.
Girona is the gateway to the Costa Brava so the following morning we headed towards the sea via the city of Figueres, the birthplace of Salvador Dali.
On the way we stopped off to witness the stunning village of Santa Pau. It’s another place that looks straight out of a medieval fantasy world.
A huge bridge and archway leads to a 14th-century fortified village, so well preserved with its narrow Romanesque alleyways and Gothic church that it really is like stepping back in time.
It is also worth visiting the Natural Park of La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone; the best example of a volcanic region on the Iberian peninsula with 40 volcanic cones and 20 lava flows.
HIKING
Serious hiking is available to those seeking adventure but we opted for an easy ramble through a beautiful forest of beech trees.
The tree canopy created a welcome break from the 27C September sunshine as we walked the easy paths.
The Dali-Theatre Museum in Figueres attracted 1.3 million visitors in 2018 and is the most impressive and unusual building you will probably ever come across.
As we approached we spotted the amazing Torre Galatea. The huge pink and yellow castle with eggs on the turrets looks like a enormous cake.
But once inside, a maze of corridors, rooms and halls will lead you on a journey to more than 1,500 exhibits of the fantastic.
Dali (1904-1989) is actually entombed in a crypt beneath the museum. The artist, who was world famous for 60 years, collaborated with many great people over his lifetime.
DALI-LAND
He worked with Walt Disney in 1946 and this realm he created in his hometown could be described as Dali-land. The museum is an extraordinary and a fitting testament to the legendary surrealist.
It houses paintings, drawings, sculptures, furniture, installations and holograms by Dali and other artists that he admired, as well as a collection of Dali-designed jewellery; 37 pieces made from gold and precious stones.
Emerging from the building and back into the reality of the streets was like waking from a dream. The Dali foundation looks after three museums at Figueres, Portlligat and Pubol.
The latter is where the artist bought his partner Gala a Gothic castle in 1969 near the church where the couple wed in 1958. It became her refuge until her death in 1982.
The attic of the castle houses a permanent exhibition of her wardrobe called Gala’s Galas. The collection includes dresses by Christian Dior and Pierre Cardin as well as clothes designed by Dali himself.
The three museums form the Dalinian Triangle, a 40sq km area that contains all of the elements, real and mythical, that make up the Dali universe.
That night we stayed at the rather posh Peralada Resort, which has a wine spa and golf course.
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BEACH RESORT
A mere 18kms away is the beach resort town of Roses, which at first glance looks like many holiday destinations across the Med.
It has a gigantic esplanade, a gorgeous beach and all manner of hotels and restaurants.
However, it is just part of an enormous bay that offers so much more than your average holiday resort. Roses has excellent nightlife.
But as it is smack bang in the middle of the Natural Park of Cap De Creus, there’s plenty to do in daylight hours.
If you get tired of sunbathing and fancy a cycle through a beautiful forest or a hike along a picturesque coastal route you won’t have to travel far.
This diverse coastline offers nautical sports such as diving, sailing, rowing, fishing, boat hire, jet skis and kayaking.
HISTORY
History lovers can also visit the megalithic complex which has a 3000-year-old dolmen.
Also close by is the impressive Citadel, which was founded by the Greeks in the 4th century BC and added to by the Romans.
And on top of all this diversity the resort of Roses is classy yet surprisingly good value.
We sat at a hotel bar on the beach and ordered a pint of local beer (€2.50) and a large coffee (€1.75).
Those kinds of prices will have people in Ireland weeping into their €3.50 takeaway Americanos as they read this.
We stayed at the four-star Hotel Terraza. Our cool and modern room overlooked the beach and from our balcony, with a bottle of wine, we watched the sunset.
Just up the coast is the heritage village of Cadaques, another of the region’s many gems.
People travel from all over Spain to visit this place, with Barcelona just over two hours drive away.
Again Dali is linked to the town and other great artists who spent time here include Picasso, Duchamp, Miro and the Catalan “Impressionists” Ramon Casas and Ramon Pichet.
TOURISM MAGNET
It began as a sleepy village but these days it’s a tourism magnet.
We enjoyed an amazing seafood meal here that was too delicious to try and describe and that is saying something for the standard of food is incredibly high across the region.
This is due to Catalan pride in gastronomy and the tremendous competition for custom.
Nearby in the tiny village of Portlligat, Dali set up a home for himself and Gala in the spring of 1930.
This is the eastern tip of the Dalinian Triangle.
In search of solitude, the artist bought a fisherman’s cabin and over the decades he acquired adjacent properties and developed a large home and studio for himself.
Again we were awestruck by the fabulous maze of corridors and rooms filled with weird and wonderful art works and objects.
In a dressing room, we spotted a photograph of Dali with the Irish writer Brendan Behan and laughed at the idea of an evening spent in the company of those two utterly unique characters.
No doubt Behan got drunk and sang The Auld “Dalinian” Triangle as he toasted life with his Spanish pal.
GO: GIRONA
GET THERE: Ryanair flies direct from Dublin to Girona twice weekly on Wednesday and Sunday from mid July. Flights from as little as €34 one way. See ryanair.com.
STAY: We stayed in the Hotel Ciutat de Girona (hotelciutatdegirona.com), Hotel Peralada Wine Spa and Golf (hotelperalada.com) and the Hotel Terraza in Roses (hotelterraza.com).
For more info on holidaying in the region see costabrava.org.
