The journey continues to Girona, España

We left Nice in the South of France after 3 wonderful days and took the train to Avignon, where we had a stopover for the night. Right in the morning, we took a short taxi ride to the train station and off we went, over the French-Spanish border, enjoying beautiful country views along the way.

Girona, a beautiful Spanish town with its medieval architecture and colourful buildings, is located 100km northeast of Barcelona (about 40 mins away by an express train) so if you are staying in Barcelona, Girona would make a nice one day trip.

Once you are here, you can just easily wander on foot around this lovely Spanish town. After you enjoy some shopping be sure to go through the old fortifications (originally built in Roman times) to the gothic Cathedral. On your way, you will see picturesque and colourful houses overlooking the river Onyar. Once inside the old town just walk the walls and climb the towers, from there you can enjoy beautiful, panoramic views of the city and the countryside.

In the old town, near the cathedral enjoy a drink and a snack and then walk down, passing through a number of souvenir shops.

In the late afternoon, you may start getting peckish. We have found a local restaurant, called Casa Marieta (Plaça de la Independència, 5-6), where we enjoyed a lovely meal. Plaça de la Independència is an atmospheric place, surrounded by many restaurants, so you are sure to find one suitable to your taste.

Back in the town center we have found an organic shop, where we stock up for our train journey the next day.

We finished the day off enjoying tea and coffee in our hotel's restaurant. For our Girona stay, we booked a 4 star Carlemany hotel, which was just perfect in terms of staff, cleanliness and location.

Girona was simply an unplanned, nice little stop on our train journey through southern Europe, and we were so glad we did stop there.

Valuable info:

• The Avignon - Girona train is available through either the French sncf or the Spanish renfe websites. The 3.15' train is just one or two per day otherwise there are longer journeys with 1-2 changes. This is possible that the short journeys are available only in the summer, as I cannot find any right now (at the end of October), when writing this post. Do check in few months time if you are interested.
• If you are travelling with kids and are looking for a 'healthier' quick bite to eat, then you may want to give the Spanish omelette or vegetable quiche a try. They are often available at any bakery and are served warm, and good on the go.