Generalmente se asocia a la Cataluña con Barcelona. Sin restar mérito a esta maravillosa ciudad, no se puede negar que la región también guarda muchos otros destinos de gran interés artístico, histórico y natural que valen un viaje.
Unusual itinerary of Catalonia
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, home to an airport that welcomes low-cost flights. From here you can take the 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 by Gustav Eiffel.
Near the red bridge, the Cases penjades with pastel colors, originally fishermen’s houses, overlook the river. Fans of Game of Thrones will be happy to find the set of some scenes from their favorite series in the historic center of Girona. Protected by a powerful Carolingian period city wall, walkable via the Passeig de la Muralla, the historic center includes the Jewish ghetto, among the best preserved in Europe, and remarkable public and private buildings. The most important is the Cathedral, which is accessed by a spectacular staircase. Inside there is a single Gothic nave which, with its nearly 23 meters wide, is second only to the central nave of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Also remarkable is its museum which preserves the wonderful Creation Tapestry from the 12th century.
The other great church dominating the Girona landscape is Sant Feliu, whose façade shows an obvious asymmetry due to the presence of a single bell tower. Outside is a medieval sculpture depicting a column climbing by a lioness, which has become the symbol of the city. The Arab baths, a 12th-century thermal building stylistically inspired by Muslim baths, and the Monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, one of the most valuable examples of Catalan Romanesque architecture, now home to the Archaeological Museum, are also worth a visit. Finally, you can relax with a walk along the lively Rambla. To make the experience even more beautiful, you can plan the 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 is 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 largest surrealist object in the world. Indeed, visiting the Dalí Theatre-Museum is an extraordinary experience. After passing the entrance, you find yourself in the space that originally housed the stalls. In this area, left uncovered as after the destruction of the theater, the eye is immediately caught by 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 with a beautiful geodesic dome that illuminates at night, characterizing the city’s skyline.
In the spaces where the theater boxes and inner rooms originally were, the actual museum is set up following a route designed by Salvador Dalí himself and unchanged. It features works spanning his entire career, but also works by other artists, such as El Greco and Marcel Duchamp, that belonged to him. Noteworthy is the installation of the Mae West room, where, looking through a special lens, some objects and paintings become a portrait of the actress. Or the Wind Palace, where the ceiling, to which Dalí attached some of his canvases, creates disorienting perspectives.
The artist’s muse was his wife Gala, who is depicted in numerous exhibited works. Dedicated to her is also the Galatea Tower, adjacent to the theater-museum and the artist’s residence in the second half of the 1980s until his death. Its architecture has a huge visual impact, with red walls decorated with golden loaves and large eggs on the roof. In Figueres, the Castle of San Ferran, an imposing pentagonal fortress designed in the eighteenth century by military architect Vauban, is also worth a visit.
Tarragona: what to see and do
The ancient Tarraco, the oldest Roman city in 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 subsequently used by the Romans in other cities. In particular, the layout had to adapt to the terrain morphology, with the construction of artificial terraces, still visible especially in the area of the provincial forum. The city wall system, dating back to the end of the 3rd century BC and expanded in the 2nd century BC, still visible for large stretches, was also one of the first examples of Roman military architecture in Spain.
Tarragona has experienced continuous habitation. This means that although well preserved, the archaeological remains in the city center are rather fragmentary because they have almost always been overbuilt by later buildings. For this reason, to have a more complete idea of Roman Tarraco, it is advisable to visit the National Archaeological Museum.
The main Roman remains visible in the city center, in addition to the walls, are the provincial forum and the circus. Moving away from the center, the most beautiful and best-preserved monuments can be admired: the Amphitheater, which scenically overlooks the sea, the colony forum with its basilica and, outside the city, the remarkable aqueduct 217 meters long, known as the Devil’s Bridge. Tarragona also preserves important medieval period evidences, in particular the Cathedral, with a Romanesque façade and Gothic portal, equipped with a beautiful cloister.
Reus: what to see and do
Hometown of Antoni Gaudí, it hosts the Gaudí Centre, a multimedia museum where you can interactively and multisensorily explore the shapes and concepts behind the projects of the great Catalan architect. In Reus there are no works by Gaudí, but there are many valuable modernist buildings including Casa Navàs and the Institut Pere Mata, both by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, best known for the 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 produced by artists of the time coordinated by Montaner. The Institut Pere Mata is the psychiatric hospital of Reus. Divided into pavilions, like the Hospital Sant Pau, it is still in use, with the exception of the Pavilion of the Distinguished, originally reserved for the city’s upper bourgeoisie representatives, now open to visits.
Other places in Catalonia
The cities described are well connected by the railway network. If you have a vehicle available or are patient enough to organize with regular buses and taxis, there are other places in Catalonia worth visiting:
- Costa Brava: so named for its rugged cliffs alternating with very white beaches, it is the coast of the province of Girona and extends to the French border.
- Empúries: the vast archaeological area near La Escala in Costa Brava houses the remains of the Greek colony of Emporion and the subsequent Roman city of Emporiae.
- Besalú: a remarkable example of an early medieval town that has come down to us almost intact. The monument that has become its symbol is the bridge over the Fluvià River.
- Santa Maria de Poblet: a 12th-century Cistercian monastery, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its architectural value and for having been 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 of the homonymous Madonna (la Moreneta) depicted in a 12th-century statue.
