Catalonia is often associated with Barcelona. While this wonderful city deserves all the attention it gets, it cannot be denied that the region also holds many other destinations of great artistic, historical, and natural interest worth a trip.
Unusual Catalonia Itinerary
Girona: what to see and do
A trip to Spain, in Catalonia, can start from Girona, a small town about 100 kilometers east of Barcelona, with an airport served by low-cost flights. From here, you can take a bus or taxi and reach the city center in less than half an hour. Girona overlooks the Onyar river. Numerous bridges connect the two banks, but the most famous is the Pont des les Peixeteries Velles, better known as the “Red Bridge,” a metal construction designed by Gustav Eiffel.
Near the red bridge are the pastel-colored Cases penjades that look over the river, originally fishermen’s houses. Fans of Game of Thrones will be happy to find several scenes of their favorite series filmed in Girona’s historic center. Protected by a mighty Carolingian city wall, which you can walk along via the Passeig de la Muralla, the old town includes a Jewish ghetto, one of the best preserved in Europe, and remarkable public and private buildings. The most important is the Cathedral, accessed by a dramatic staircase. Inside, there is a single Gothic nave which, at nearly 23 meters wide, is second only to the central nave of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Its museum is also remarkable, preserving the wonderful 12th-century Tapestry of Creation.
Another major church dominating Girona’s landscape is Sant Feliu, whose facade shows evident asymmetry due to a single bell tower. Outside is a medieval sculpture of a column climbed by a lioness, which has become the city’s symbol. Also worth visiting are the Arab baths, a 12th-century thermal building inspired stylistically by Muslim baths, and the Monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, one of the finest examples of Catalan Romanesque architecture, now home to the Archaeological Museum. Finally, you can relax with a stroll along the lively Rambla. To make the experience even more beautiful, you might plan your trip to coincide with Temps de Flors, the flower festival held every second week of May, during which every corner of Girona turns into a garden.
Figueres: what to see and do
Forty kilometers from Girona lies Figueres, the hometown of Salvador Dalí. The municipal theater, destroyed by a fire at the end of the Spanish Civil War, was transformed by the artist in the 1960s into the world’s largest surrealist object. Indeed, visiting the Dalí Theatre-Museum is an extraordinary experience. Beyond the entrance, you find yourself in the area originally occupied by the stalls. This section, left uncovered as after the theater’s destruction, instantly catches the eye with a Cadillac topped by a huge female statue, followed in perspective by a column supporting an overturned boat. All around, the perimeter walls are dotted with golden mannequins, monstrous figures, and sinks. The stage is now covered by a beautiful geodesic dome that lights up at night, shaping the city’s skyline.
Inside the museum section, located in the spaces that originally housed the theater boxes and internal halls, follows a route designed by Salvador Dalí himself, which remains unchanged. It houses works spanning his entire career, plus pieces by other artists like El Greco and Marcel Duchamp, which belonged to him. Notable is the installation of the Mae West room, where, looking through a special lens, some objects and paintings form a portrait of the actress. Or the Wind Palace, where the ceiling, adorned with some of Dalí’s canvases, creates disorienting perspectives.
The artist’s muse was his wife Gala, who is depicted in many displayed works. The Galatea Tower, adjoining the museum-theater and once his residence in the late 1980s until his death, is also dedicated to her. Its architecture has a huge visual impact, with red walls decorated with golden loaves and enormous eggs on the roof. In Figueres, the Castell de San Ferran also deserves a visit—an imposing pentagonal fortress designed in the 18th century by military architect Vauban.
Tarragona: what to see and do
The ancient Tarraco, the oldest Roman city on peninsular Spain, was the capital of the province of Hispania Citerior. It has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site because its urban planning model was later used by the Romans in other cities. Specifically, the layout had to adapt to the terrain morphology, with artificial terraces still visible, especially around the provincial forum area. The city walls, dating back to the end of the 3rd century BC and expanded in the 2nd century BC and still visible in large sections, are also among the earliest examples of Roman military architecture in Spain.
Tarragona has experienced continuous habitation. This means that although the archaeological remains in the city center are well preserved, they are quite fragmented because they are often overlapped by later buildings. For this reason, to get a more complete picture of Roman Tarraco, it is advisable to visit the National Archaeological Museum.
The main Roman remains visible in the city center, apart from the city walls, include the provincial forum and the circus. Moving away from the center, you can admire the most beautiful and best-preserved monuments: the Amphitheater, which spectacularly overlooks the sea; the colony’s forum with its basilica; and outside the city, the remarkable 217-meter-long aqueduct known as the Devil’s Bridge. Tarragona also conserves important medieval heritage, particularly the Cathedral with a Romanesque facade and Gothic portal, featuring a beautiful cloister.
Reus: what to see and do
The birthplace of Antoni Gaudí, Reus hosts the Gaudí Centre, an interactive multimedia museum where you can explore in a multisensory way the forms and concepts behind the projects of the great Catalan architect. There are no works by Gaudí in Reus, but there are many remarkable Modernist buildings including Casa Navàs and the Institut Pere Mata, both by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, best known for Hospital Sant Pau and the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.
Except for the external tower destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, Casa Navàs is perfectly intact, including the furniture, stained glass, and marble decorations made by artists of the period coordinated by Montaner. The Institut Pere Mata is Reus’s psychiatric hospital. Divided into pavilions like Hospital Sant Pau, it is still in use, except for the Pavilion of the Distinguished, originally reserved for representatives of the city’s upper bourgeoisie, which is open to visitors.
Other Catalonia destinations
The cities described are well connected by train. If you have a vehicle available or are willing to organize yourself by local buses and taxis, there are other Catalan locations worth visiting:
- Costa Brava: so named for its rugged cliffs alternating with very white beaches, it is the coast of the Girona province, extending to the French border.
- Empúries: the extensive archaeological area near La Escala in Costa Brava holds the remains of the Greek colony of Emporion and the later Roman city of Emporiae.
- Besalú: a remarkable example of a medieval town almost intact. The symbol monument is the bridge over the Fluvià river.
- Santa Maria de Poblet: a 12th-century Cistercian monastery, UNESCO World Heritage Site for its architectural value and because it served as the pantheon of the kings of Aragon.
- Monastery of Montserrat: born as a medieval hermitage atop a rocky cliff, it is a place of veneration for the namesake Madonna (the Moroneta) depicted in a 12th-century statue.
