Website Guide: Homepage ¦ Spain Holiday Rentals ¦ Costa Brava
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Places of Interest near Estartit continued
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Girona
The
city of Girona is a walled city of Roman origin and located at a strategic point
on the route between the Pyrenees and Barcelona. The city has much to see in the
way of a Cathedral, art & archaeology and an ancient Jewish quarter (El
Call). The River Onyar divides the city from west to eat, most visitors spend
their time on the east side in the old medieval part of the city. The Rambla,
the main shopping street, bursts into bloom on Sunday mornings for the flower
market. Shops and cafés bustle beneath the great arches. To the right is the
labyrinth of lanes, alleys and stone steps of the Jewish quarter. We had a very
enjoyable climb up the steps in the the narrow streets behind the cathedral
within the city walls. The view over the city, and indeed the whole plain, is
breathtaking. There are plenty of bars and restaurants and we had a very strong
Carejelio (black coffee, usually served in a small glass, with alcohol which is
like rocket fuel) in a simple cafe on the way back to the car. A great spot for
some photography.
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Llafranc
Tucked
into the next bay, with one goodish stretch of beach and a glirreing marina. The
lovely Llafranc bay is in the shape of half moon, and it has a fine sand beach.
In the summer, the little marina is always crowded. You can find services for to
sail or to dive. While you´re there, try a cremat, a typical drink of the
fishing villages in this regiuon, reputedly brought over by sailors from the
Antilles. The concoction contains rum, sugar, lemon peel, coffee grounds and
sometimes a cinnamon stick.
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Banyoles
17
km up the freeway from Girona is the lakeside town of Banyoles, site of the 1992
Olympic rowing events. (If you're not in a rush to get to the lake, turn off the
freeway at the signs for Palol, with its ruined castle and a fortified precinct,
on this attractive alternate route to Banyoles.) The lake, with a surface of one
square km and 8 km perimeter, is unique in the world in that it is fed by the
confluence of two subterranean rivers, where 600 liters of water are pumped in
per second. Despite some Olympic-related lakeside development, with new hotels
and restaurants much in evidence, Banyoles is an attractive place to visit, with
a well-kept old town and shaded footpaths around the lake.
Banyoles grew up around a monastery originally founded by Benedictines in 812.
Follow Carrer Nou, full of stone mansions, to the Monestir de Sant Esteve at the
eastern end of town, still the biggest structure in the old town, with a Gothic
retablo of 1437 backing the altar and cloisters containing 12-16C tombs of local
Abbots. (Often closed but you can call 57 02 24 to visit.) The streets leading
back into the center of town are full of ancient buildings, including a 12-14C
almshouse, Pia Almoina, with a fine 14C cloister, and now site of the Museu
Arqueològic Comarcal (350ptas), with its famous jawbone of a pre-Neanderthal
man found near the lake), and a good example of 15C industrial architecture, the
dye market, la Llotja del Tint, and the 13C church of Santa Maria dels Turers,
one of the earliest example of Catalan Gothic with fine stained-glass windows.
The Museu Darder d'Història Natural (300ptas) contains the collection of
renowned taxidermist Francesc Darder, and the rooms dedicated to Man are
controversial, to say the least, for their bizarre collection of human remains.
All streets lead to the central Plaça Major, a lovely tree-lined, arcaded
square with several cafés and a Wednesday market that had been held here since
the eleventh century. The café on the corner with kiddy rides in front, el Café
de la Plaça, has delicious sandwiches made with especially soft doughy rolls,
named xapata. Ask for a sandwich with the cold-cut of your choice and pa amb
tomaquet, which means the bread will be rubbed with tomato and doused with
virgin olive oil.
The lake boasts a whole series of boating options - cruises, row boats and pedal
boats- all of which run to several hundred pesetas for an hour of fun on this
lake's clean waters. (Banyoles lake is enviornmentally protected, and only boats
with electric-powered motors may ply its waters.) Take some bread along to feed
the enormous carp and water fowl. There is a grassy esplanade for swimmers and
sunbathers and a few wooden docks from where to dive in. From the Municipal
Pool, Club Natació de Banyoles, which has its own esplanade, walk a few hundred
meters along a footpath going through the park to the north.
Market on Wednesday. Bicycle rentals (good way to see lake) at Top Bici, Lluis
Constans 273, and at the El Lac campgrounds. Adventure sports at FangFonda Comas
has inexpensive menus at midday. But many of the better local restaurants have
closed down or are in decline, and the best meals are to be had out of town. If
you do eat in town, go to the locally famous Rancho Grande, also know as Can
Xabanet, on Plaça de Carme, or to the fancier Les Cuartre Estaciones on the
Passeig de la Farga.. For those of you who think, like me, that taxi drivers
always know the best places, there is a really good workman's midday menu to be
had at restaurant les Estunes, (972 57 52 54, closed Thursdays) where ruddy
farmers and workmen from all over the region pile in for hearty meals at 1000
pesetas. To get there: heading out of Banyoles on the GE-529 towards Sant Pau
and Olot turn left at the fire station and signs for the Dallas Discoteque. Les
Estunes is just behind the Disco. Don't be put off if the workmen stare at you a
little at first. Just a smile and a nod and they'll dig back into their grilled
lamb chops and you'll soon be part of the family. I've had such good cheap meals
here - not to mention my first ever taste of home-made pine-nut liquor! For
higher quality meals press on the Sa Llanca in Mieres (see below) or go to Can
Roca in Espronellá (see below). Back in town you'll find a café with internet
connection at Patagonia/l'Abeurador on the pedestrian street heading down to plaça
Major. The owner, Melo, has two terminals and charges about 700 the hour to
connect. He is also an avid fan of American Football and loves playing
backgammon. Banyoles' Fiesta Mayor de San Martirianois on August 15, fiestas
also on October 24-26. Sardanas are danced on Thursday nights in summer at the
Plaça Major.
Across the lake from Banyoles is the borough of Porqueres, where the lake is at
its deepest (63m). Here the exceptionally elegant Romanesque church of Santa
Maria was consecrated in 1182 and has a barrel-vaulted interior, and unusual
capitals depicting plant and animal life. The frieze around the façade has
various curious symbols inside circles. At the end of the apse is a triumphal
arch with ornamented capitals: God, angels, a scene reproducing original sin,
Christ, the apostles, the Virgin, etc. Shame about the piped-in music you get
with the 100 pesetas illumination fee. Somehow, Mahler's Addagietto just doesn't
evoke medieval Christendom. Nearby, horseback riding club Club Hípic Comarca
Pla de l'Estany (57 42 00) offers a choice of historic routes through villages
on horseback. Further southwest, mountaintop Pujarnol commands a good panorama,
and has remains of an old castle, a fine dolmen, and the nearby hermitage of
Sant Nicolau, with its ancient oak tree, recently named a natural monument by
local authorities.
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Sant
Feliu de Guixols
Sant
Feliu de Guixols is an eminently Mediterranean town situated at the heart of the
Costa Brava and surrounded by hills with woods of pine and holm oak, wich has
become an important holiday resort offering visitors a wide range of services.
All year round Sant Feliu has an intense commercial activity, and the municipal
council organises numerous leisure and cultural activities, in addition to
maintaining the town's most deeply-rooted traditions. Thanks to its pleasant,
temperate climate, Sant Feliu de Guixols is an ideal place for relaxing at any
time of the year. The town conserves a rich and surprising historical and
architectural heritage. The coastline surrounding Sant Feliu is full of
contrasts, with stretches of cliffs interrupted by coves and bays with fine sand
beaches. The town's beaches concentrate a large number of activities and offer
all kinds of water sports. In Sant Feliu you'll find a holiday made to measure
for you.
The countryside surrounding Sant Feliu is a permanent invitation to take an
outing by bike or on foot. The town is set in the Aro valley and surrounded by
important natural reserves such as the Gavarres hills, the Montclar mountain or
the Cadiretes massif, with typically Mediterranean woods of pine and holm oak
and countless paths passing through dense vegetation. The coastal paths reveal a
landscape of cliffs, coves and bays, and beaches where the heritage of the first
summer residents is maintained in the presence of houses in the Modernist style.
Sant Feliu de Guixols is a town with a rich cultural, historical and
architectural heritage. An outstanding example of this is the architectural
complex of the Monastery, built in 1723 by the Benedictine order, wich includes
the Porta Ferradaj, the symbol of the town, and the towers of the Corn and Fum.
Nowadays, the Monastery complex is the home of one of the principal nuclei of
the cultural activity of the town: the Cultural Centre and the History Museum,
which displays pieces and works of art from the different periods of the town's
history and an interesting exhibition of the principal economic activities of
the 19th century. The Cultural Centre organises numerous exhibitions and
activities all year round. The same complex also includes the new Tourist
Office.
The Old Fort, of the 18th century, and the Sea Rescue building (1889), both
situated on the site of the old medieval harbour, are testimonies to the town's
important seafaring tradition. But Sant Feliu also has other landscapes, such as
the surroundings of the chapel of Sant Elm, built in 1723 over the remains of a
defence tower, with impressive panoramic views.
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