Ring My Bell
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday July 29, 2000
VIRGINIA ALLEN stumbles across a gem of a town in the heart of Catalonia.
EVERYONE said you could find cheap accommodation in Barcelona. ``Early spring don't worry! There's a central booking desk in the Placa de Catalunya, and the tourists don't really arrive till summer. Just turn up."
Well, forget it. All the pensions (hostels) were packed. I spent a good part of each day I was there phoning the hostels listed in the two guidebooks I was carrying that's maybe 20 in the price range of 4,000-7,000 pesetas ($40-$70) a night.
I spent one night in an overpriced modern hotel usually frequented by Germans on their way to the Costa Brava ugly and never spent more than one night in any of the hostels I did manage to squeeze into.
In other words, Barcelona was hectic. And despite its groovy bars and beautiful Barri Gotic, or old city, my view was heavily coloured by accommodation anxiety. I also witnessed a motorbike bag snatch and was followed by a persistent pickpocket specialities of Barcelona.
So I thought I'd get out of town for a few days.
As it turned out, I made one of those strangely blessed, more or less arbitrary travel decisions. I took a train 90 minutes north-east of Barcelona to Girona, in the direction of Figueres and the Pyrenees.
Catalonia is bounded to the north by the Pyrenees, lying next to France, and to the east by the Mediterranean. Both geographically and historically it has close links to France, and its distinct language, Catalan, has affiliations with the language of Provence, just over the border. Ruled by the French from the middle ages to the 17th century, and the true heart of Spain's radical political traditions, Catalonia has a feisty sense of independence from the rest of Spain.
Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia. Girona is one of the region's several inland cities. With a population of 72,000, Girona hardly registered in the guidebooks, but it was to dream for, and I stayed a week. The few backpackers and other tourists I met were all incredulous. Girona was a gem, so why hadn't the guidebooks told us?
Well, it's small, and it's quiet, and you could do its official attractions in a couple of days.
But you can also find the most sympathetic accommodation in the heart of the old city for long or short stays, a clutch of friendly bars and old characters to talk to, and a vibrant student culture based around the university. You can take fascinating walks through winding streets and along the kilometre or so of medieval city walls that look out to the snow-capped mountains.
The bar at the foot of Girona Cathedral, from whence the old city unfurls, is a good place to start, and by happy coincidence this is where I first set my bags down.
Wine, as everywhere else in Spain, is only 150 pesetas ($1.50) a glass. After a couple it's a good time to give your phrase-book Spanish a go.
But a simple ``Do you speak English?" is often more effective. The initial Catalan reserve is likely to melt into concern.
The bar's proprietor immediately switched from impenetrable Catalan to accomplished English. He also saw his chance to recount the many tales of famous Catalans who had passed through his doors, air his obsession with the cathedral's gargoyles, and propound on Catalan independence and the Francoism of the present government a sentiment disputed by others in the bar.
He also knew the town like the back of his hand, and could recommend ac-commodation around the corner at the wonderful Belmirral, a hostel run by the family of Catalan artist Isidre Vicens.
This bar became my regular. Young and old gathered there and by nightfall it was invariably abuzz.
It was here I met Andre, the mayor's nephew, and his German girlfriend. They were getting ready for the night's big occasion on the steps of the cathedral.
Earlier in the day I'd passed by and seen what I thought was an end-of-term prank getting under way. A huge stereo system sat at the cathedral door, with what looked like red Coke cans laid out on the steps.
By nightfall, a huge rhubarb of voices was bouncing off the stone walls of the old city, attracting hundreds of people. A seriously stereophonic Ode to Joy burst forth, and the crowd was taken up in a perfectly ecstatic moment.
In fact the cathedral steps were ablaze with votive candles in glowing red cups a hundred candles on each of the 90 steps leading steeply to the cathedral doorway.
It was a fund-raising event for the children of Togo, and each step was lit in turn by local school children.
Way into the wee hours, after the party had ended, medieval drumming could be heard across the city, a practice session for Easter celebrations the following week.
I was to meet Andre again. On holidays from Germany, where he now works, a return to Girona was an emotional experience for him. It's small and paro-chial, he said, but beautiful and friendly. Where once parts of the old city used to be seedy, today the whole of the old quarter has been cleaned up.
It's expensive to buy there, but there is still a mix of old families in their labyrinthine apartments arranged around hidden courtyards, and newcomers students, young professionals, designers, musicians who have done their places up, often with striking architectural accretions to their medieval pads.
The university is a major presence. Motorscooters whip around the cobbled streets; there are bookshops specialising in the latest intellectual fashions, cheap student cafes, and love in the extraordinary little gardens occupying romantic nooks and crannies along the winding city walls.
Andre asked me what I thought of the church bells, an odd question, I thought.
I assumed this was another endearing thing about Girona. Not just one set of bells but two chime the hour in the old city, and in fact the quarter and half hour, close to the Placa de Catedral.
The cathedral bell tolls first, then the bells of the Ayuntament. Strange, as surely one at least must be out of time, but hardly an interference, and really quite handy if you wake out of the siesta in a stupor. If you just miss one lot, the next you know is still coming.
On one morning walk along the top of the city walls, the whole valley was alive with bells tolling from perhaps 10 sources. It was a most joyous feeling, looking down on the confluence of the rivers around which this neat city has developed, and out to the snowy mountains on a fine spring day.
Old Girona was originally a Roman town built on the Via Augusta, an important trading and strategic centre at the meeting point of the Onya, Ter, Guell and Galligants rivers.
It was a fortified town, built on the pinnacle of the hill, and remnants of the Roman wall remain, together with large sections of wall from later periods.
Along the Ferran el Catolic you enter through the arched gateway into the heart of the old city, its many tiny roadways and stepped pathways weaving and intersecting to form a seemingly endless choice of routes down to the Rambla de la Llibertat and the shops and cafes that run along the Onyar.
Girona's tourist attractions cluster close to the cathedral (consecrated in 1038). They include the Church of Sant Feliu, Feliu being martyred here in the third century; the Arab baths, which are actually in the Moorish fashion popular in the 12th century; several museums; and the Jewish quarter, or Call, once a thriving centre of Cabalistic learning, now represented by a single Jewish bookstore.
The Tresor de la Catedral is billed as Girona's major attraction. It has an opulent collection of altar pieces, statuary and paintings, which the advertising says is of incalculable value. But with little information or chronological coherence, the collection was disappointing.
Girona also offers other cultural entertainments, with temporary exhibitions, classical and contemporary musical performances and theatre brought together in a busy calendar of events by the Girona city council. Many of these are in the neat modern city, which is reached by crossing the Onyar, along whose sides colourful buildings with wooden shutters drip Venetian-style to the edges of the water.
But it is the old city that holds the traveller's interest. History and sociability breathe through its cobbled streets.
Several fine restaurants and many lively tapas bars are to be found in these ancient byways, and it is here that the great Catalan hospitality, voluble discussion and love of life are clearly evident.
From Girona, any number of interesting excursions can be made to Figueres and Dali's famous Teatre-Museu Dali, to the medieval town of Besalu, to Banyoles and the countryside of Olot, to the Pyrenees and to the Costa Brava.
You could even make Girona your base, taking a two- or three-day visit to the Catalonian capital, returning to the less harried pace of Girona's old city.
In spring, the wild snapdragons and wisteria grace the old-town walls, the streets are free of bustle, the shops and tapas bars inviting, and there's time to meet and absorb something of the Catalan way of life.
Bisca Girona!
CASE NOTES
Destination: Girona, Spain.
When to go: March-May, before the summer tourists arrive and while there is still snow on the mountains.
Getting there: Regular flights leave Australia throughout the year, but none flies directly to Barcelona, eg, Qantas goes via London, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, Japan via Tokyo, Lauda via Vienna, Singapore Airlines via Frankfurt, Egypt Air via Cairo and Olympia via Athens. Cheap daily flights to Barcelona can be picked up in London.
From Barcelona to Girona: Barcelona Bus to Girona from Estacio del Nord; RENFE train from Passeig de Gracia hourly from 6am-9pm (75 minutes).
Getting around: By train or bus to surrounding townships and villages. Most airlines can arrange car hire for about $39 a day.
Where to stay: For comfortable, cheap accommodation, Hostale Belmirral, on the Belmirral, in the old city; phone: 34 972 20 40 09. Hotel Europa, C/Juli Garreta, in the modern city; phone 34 972 20 27 50.
More information: In Sydney, the tourism adviser, Spanish Chamber of Commerce, phone 9362 3168. In Girona, Oficina de Turisme, 1 Rambla de la Llibertat; phone 34 972 22 65 75, fax 34 972 22 66 12. In Barcelona, Officina Informacion Turistica, Paseo de Gracia 107; phone 34 932 38 40 00.
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald
