travel

Catalunya, Spain

June 14, 2019 /

After two wonderful weeks visiting friends and two countries, we are back in the US. As usual, our trip abroad was busy as we wanted to see as much as we could while we were there. We spent two days in Spain at the beginning of our trip and one more before our flight back. We flew into Barcelona since it was close to my Godparents’ and my high school friend who live in the South of France. It was also cheaper than flying into Paris. I will be recapping our trip over the next few weeks, focusing on fashion on Mondays and sharing our travels on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Where we stayed

We stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton hotel spa emporda about 40 minutes from Girona, Spain. We used hotel points to book two bedrooms and our breakfast was included. We were very impressed with our accomodations. Our rooms were spacious, tastefully decorated and overlooked the golf course. Breakfast included a spread of European meat and cheeses, fruit, typical American breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage), pastries, artisan breads and more! We would definitely would book this hotel again!

The location

Catalunya is in the northeast region of Spain and the people are very friendly and speak both Spanish and Catalan. I recommend reading more about it on Wikipedia as I did before our trip as it help you understand the culture and the pride the people have in their roots and their desire for an autonomous status. We visited nearby medieval villages, beach towns and the city of Girona.

Pals

This medieval town was a 5 minute drive from our hotel. After checking in, we decided to spend our afternoon there exploring it. The children loved the old architecture. It is a very pictoresque town, one of many in the region.

Bougainvillea grows well in the climate and we saw many houses where it grew on the walls.

There were a number of shops to appeal to tourists and I bought my first basket in that town.

Girona

Girona was about a 45 minute drive from our hotel and we headed there our 2nd day. I had visited it as a child but really did not remember it. Since we rented a van for the duration of our trip, we used the app Maps.me to direct us as it is an offline gps system that uses your phone’s location. I had downloaded the maps of Spain and France before we left and it was very useful.

Girona is a beautiful city and apparently the Games of Thrones series was filmed there. There are Games of Thrones tours offered but since I haven’t watched a single episode, we just wandered and enjoyed the beauty of the buildings and remparts.

In the first picture I am kissing the lion’s bottom, a sign of allegiance to Girona and it is said that “you are not a good citizen of Girona if you do not kiss the lion’s back”. School children waited in line to do the same as they were on a field trip from school.

I will leave you on this note and will continue our Girona adventure and our beach trip next Wednesday! Hope you enjoyed this little tour of Catalunya!

A bientôt!

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