It’s All Saints Day!  A holiday in Girona, and the streets are already teeming with people!  It is a cloudy and cool day, but a perfect day for walking about and seeing the sights.  We start our day with our daily dose of exercise….walking the walls!  I mean, what the heck, they start right outside our apartment door, why wouldn’t we walk the walls!  And boy, oh boy, are they exercise.  You know, you think you are in shape, but really, when all we do is walk the neighborhood and on the treadmill, well, we are only sort of in shape!  Here we’ve got steps (a lot of steps!) and uphill climbs and, well, it’s exercise – and you know us, we are loving it, even if it is a rude awakening!

And in addition to great cardio – it is also the best way to see the city.  The views are spectacular!  Through the bright fall colored leaves you can spy the Cathedral and Basilica, everywhere you turn is another gorgeous view of the gothic architecture and surrounding countryside.  Excellent way to start the morning.

We follow the walls all the way to the other end of town to the Cathedral, then circle around, heading up the Tower at the back of the Cathedral, wandering through the ruins of something behind the tower (who knows?  But it is pretty and green and has great views out over the new part of the city and the hills beyond), then coming down into the city proper through the back of the cathedral and down the massive steps (that are allegedly where they filmed The Game of Thrones, but not being a fan, we’re clueless).

From here, we head back toward the apartment, stopping at the Jewish museum in the Jewish Quarter.  Girona had a large and active Jewish community from 982 to 1492, and this quarter, called El Call, on and around Carrer de la Força, is one of the best preserved in the world.  It was developed over 300 years and became one of the largest in Spain. 

The museum itself is the location of the last Synagogue here, with many artifacts, a gorgeous courtyard with Star of David and menorah, as well as fabulous old Torahs.  It is a fascinating look back into the history and culture of Girona’s Jewish community.

Next, we are switching religions and exploring the Saint Narcis festival markets! There are a couple of food markets we head towards – one on the Plaza Indepencia (where we had visited on our first trip here – we parked near the Plaza and had lunch at one of the many restaurants ringing the square.  Today?  Who boy! The Square is filled with stalls with all sorts of fabulous foods – sausages, honey, drinks, more sausages, tons of roasted chestnut vendors, you name it.  A foodie’s cornucopia!  We succumb to some sausage and empanadillos – little baby empanadas, one filled with mushrooms and cheese, one with butifarro and onions.  All packed away for a bountiful lunch for us!

We wander back through the crowds, perusing the art markets along the way, then pig out on our purchases – along with our esparragus blanco and aioli – on the balcony at the apartment. Yum!

Then it’s back out onto the streets for more arts markets – all really cool and interesting, but nothing we want to fit into our already overstuffed suitcases!  More food markets (no, no more, uncle!!!), cool sculptures that Sunny actually wants to climb upon (it’s his first time out – he’s shy after all this time in COVID lockdown) – and then finally completing the circuit back to the apartment to hang out until it’s time to go to the Cathedral and the human pilar!!  A crowning event of the Sant Narcis festival.