Girona & Besalú

The landscape will help you understand the history of our region; after passing the many factories, we’ll come to the mountains of the Montseny and in Besalú and Girona we’ll get a view of the nearby Pyrenees.
Girona is a lovely small city further inland in Catalonia. It takes about an hour to get there from Barcelona; we will drive along the main highway to France. This highway, like many others in Europe, still follows the path of the old Via Augusta that the Romans built over 2,000 years ago.
In Girona, we recommend you visit the Cathedral, and of course, the Museum of Jewish History, to broaden your knowledge of Judaism in medieval Catalonia. If you prefer, we can just have a nice walk around the old city with its medieval buildings and streets, enjoying the views from the top of the stairs of the Cathedral or walking down some of the narrowest streets that are so typical in old cities. We highly recommend having lunch in Girona; there are many mouth-watering options to choose from, especially if you want to try traditional Catalan cuisine.
Besalú is only half an hour away from Girona, and is a hidden gem of the Catalan countryside. Often when you think about Europe and its small towns, you imagine them all built in stone, with old churches and homes, maybe an ancient stone bridge… well, Besalú has all that, as well as probably the best-preserved remains of a “mikveh” (a communal bath) from medieval times. If you travel with kids, they’ll love it too; both places are mostly pedestrian, and the kids can have fun pretending to be knights while learning about ancient history.