The historic city of Girona

One of the most interesting in Catalonia, the historic city of Girona

allows you to retrace more than 2,000 years of history through two fortified enclosures, the Força Vella and the Medieval Eixample. The former corresponds to the Roman foundation and the latter to the extension of the walls during the 14th and 15th centuries. The monuments are abundant and the artistic wealth they preserve is remarkable. The attraction of Girona is completed with the suggestive Jewish quarter of El Call, with its beautiful streets and porticoed squares, and with the exultant Baroque spaces and noucentist buildings by Rafael Masó.

La Força Vella

In the 1st century BC, the Romans erected a mighty fortress around an almost triangular perimeter, a kind of acropolis, the Força Vella, It is very well protected by walls built of large stone ashlars. It is the first enclosure of the city, unchanged until the 10th century AD and still visible today in some parts of the city walls.

Girona Cathedral

In the most genuine place of the Força Vella, you can find the Cathedral. Built between the 11th and 18th centuries, it is made up of a series of walls and spaces in different styles, from Romanesque (cloister and tower of Charlemagne) to the Baroque of the façade and the staircase. The most unique feature is the great Gothic nave (15th-16th c.) which, at 23 m wide, is the widest vaulted Gothic space in the world.

Jewish neighborhood of the Call

Within the Força Vella, one of the most emblematic spaces is the Jewish Call, formed by a labyrinth of narrow streets and courtyards that maintain the aura of medieval times. It is one of the best-preserved Jewish quarters in the world and a clear example of the importance of Jewish culture in Girona.

The houses on the river Onyar

Girona offers spectacular images of steep alleyways, spaces with porticoes and, above all, of the façades of the houses of the river Onyar, the river that runs through the city, painted in bright colours, which are the most emblematic image of Girona. One of these houses is the Casa Masó, which can be visited. Among the bridges that cross the river, the Gómez bridge, slender and light, and the Palancas Rojas bridge (1827), built by the Eiffel company.

There are many other things to see and visit in the city of Girona. For more information click here to see their tourism website