Monday May 13, 2019

Carol’s Grand Breakfast

Carol makes us a nice homemade breakfast. Eggs, potatoes with onions, and toast makes for a fine meal. I had to make sure that Carol remembered how to cook after being spoiled for the last 5 weeks.                      

Creation Tapestry

After breakfast, we head out and go to check out the Girona Cathedral. It is only a short walk and we start out in the cathedral treasury. There is a processional cross, a jewel encrusted Bishops hat, and many other items and relics from the church. There is also a tapestry called the creation tapestry which dates from the 11th to 12th century. It is in really good shape. The included audioguide describes many of the pieces and does a good job with the tapestry. The center is Gods creation of the world, where you see the animals, sea creatures, Adam and then Eve’s creation, hence the name of the tapestry.

Altar View

We enter the cathedral and notice right away that it is unique in shape and has a few interesting things. We follow the audioguide along side chapels, the organ, and the High Altar. The nave is the widest Gothic nave in the world and the second widest of any church after that of St Peters in Rome. The cathedral started in the Romanesque style but switched over to Gothic in the 13th century.

Silver Canopy

In front of the altar, there is a unique silver canopy with sculpted figures of saints and from the bible. The altar has scenes from the bible and Mary’s life. Behind it is the Bishops throne modeled after Charlegmagnes throne which we saw on a previous trip, in the cathedral of Aachen, Germany. We thought the guide continued into the cloister but it is closed off due to the flower show. So we finish up inside and decide to visit it ourselves from the outside. Not a great move, as there is a line of flower gawkers and inside, it is hard to stop and look at the cloisters and art due to the amount of people moving through.

Painters Palette

We did see a few nice flower exhibits along the way. We finish up and decide to walk to a quieter part of town to have lunch at Can Roca. The Roca brothers started here and then opened the Cellar of Can Roca in 1986. It is one of the top rated restaurants in the world and several hundred dollars to eat at. Can Roca is still highly rated and so we have decided to give it a try. It is about a 1.25 mile walk for us and we do not get lost along the way. We thought it opened at 1230 but we arrive at 1225 and it is already open. We get the last table before they start turning people away. That was the good part. They have a set menu and one waitress tries her best to explain our choices. We order and then another waiter asks what we want to drink. It is included so we say red wine, in Espanol. He brings a bottle of rose and leaves. We get his attention and say we wanted red but he doesn’t seem to care and just says that this is the wine.

Fideos Was Good

The first course we ordered comes and it is Fideos with beef and is pretty good. Then our main courses come. Carol had ordered pork and I ordered fish. The pork was like a pork knuckle but totally fat. We literally could not find any meat in it. My fish was fried with some calamari but pretty tasteless and soft not crunchy as it should be. We gat the one lady’s attention and tell her Carols is no Bueno, can we change it. She says alright and Carol gets the beef stew dish which is better but pretty salty. Dessert is creme brûlée and is half cold half warm. I am not sure why this place is filled with locals as our meal was pretty bad. Definitely living off their reputation of forty years. We walk away completely unhappy with the whole meal which is a rarity for us.

Flowers in St Feliu Basilica

Walking back to town, we visit the Basilica of St Felieu. The Basilica of St Felix who is the patron saint of cats, well, I just made that up, is part of the flower show as well. Our cathedral ticket was supposed to include an audioguide here but we are told no guides because of the show. With no guides and little info in English, we see the chapels for Saint Felieu and St Narcissus, the patron saint of Girona and try to figure out the stories the best we can.

Painting of Poison Flies

When the town was under siege, St Narcissus summoned poisonous flies which repelled the invasion and protected the town. A painting in his chapel shows us this. After the basilica, we are going to walk the old walls of Girona.

Wall Walking

In finding our way, we stop at several more flower exhibits including one at the Arab baths, another small museum. After that, we walk the walls climbing high above the town, giving us nice views of the town and surrounding area.

When You Got to Go

At one turn in the wall we pass an ancient crapper so that you could give your enemy the s**t they deserve. The wall is longer than we thought and we end up in a part of town we have not been. Just head in the general direction of the cathedral and we can’t get lost. We make it back to our room just in time for happy hour. Does it really ever end?        

Crepes for Dinner

We go out later for dinner at La Vedette. Ham, egg, and cheese crepe for me and chicken curry crepe for Carol. Actually like in most of our meals we split. Both are very good. The crepeieness does not end there as Carol wants dessert. We split a sugar, butter, and ice cream crepe and a chocolate with coconut ice cream crepe. So our last meal in Spain seems to be very un spanish. We enjoy it and that is all that matters. Time for some sleep as tomorrow we board another train.

Expenses
Little Home Rei Marti Apartment 91.08E
Girona Cathedral 14E
Lunch at Can Roca 24E
Dinner at La Vedette 33.70E
Walked 8 Miles