It’s easy to see why the Catalonian city of Girona has endured 25 sieges and fallen to enemy forces on seven different occasions. It’s a place you really do want all for yourself. And on our first night in town, we had exactly that.
The day-trippers had all gone for the day. Girona is just an hour’s train ride from Barcelona, making it a quick-hit destination for many. They were mostly leaving just as we arrived.
Of all the places we visited in Spain, Valencia bore the greatest similarity to an American city – albeit one with a distinct European accent. Its wide, often bustling, avenues lined with an array of modernly functional buildings could easily drop into someplace like San Diego and feel right at home. After nearly a month of continuously touring the Iberian Peninsula, we were understandably happy for this dose of familiarity, regardless how tenuous.
To the victor go the spoils…and the right to re-decorate.
In the site where Cordoba’s Mezquita now stands there was once a Roman temple, then a Visigothic cathedral and then a mosque. Rather than re-do the entire edifice in the 13th century when Christian crusaders took over the town, they left the majority of the mosque intact but made a significant alteration. They constructed a Catholic church in its center.
Plaza de España, Seville
Castle. Cathedral. Atmospheric Old Town. Tapas. Wine. Seville has all of the essential ingredients we’ve come to expect in a Spanish city but managed to dazzle us even further by adding more to the mix.
Segovia’s Gothic Cathedral towers over much of the town
Some people might tell you that Spanish and Greek are two totally different languages. But to us they’re nearly identical in one important respect: we understand very little of either.
On a bus, somewhere in Segovia, Spain, we managed to decipher enough Spanish to know that the driver wasn’t letting us off where we wanted. We wouldn’t figure out why until a bit later. And although we couldn’t make heads or tails of his precise directions, we did understand the universal sign for “that way.”
So with a shrug we hefted our bags and set off in the direction of the bus driver’s outstretched finger. A light rain fell as we made our way in this new and unfamiliar city. It wasn’t long until we saw the crowds. And then the barricades blocking our way.
Everywhere Once 