Girona

Girona

Onyar River, Cathedral in the background and me on Eiffel Bridge

With the entire europe in high travel season, i decide to stick close to Barcelona and decide on a weekend trip to Girona.

While preparing for my trip, i realized to my surprise that some seasons of Game of Thrones was filmed in Girona!
As you can imagine, my trip quickly morphed into focusing on finding as many film sites as i can!
https://winteriscoming.net/2015/08/23/check-out-pictures-of-the-girona-locations-game-of-thrones-will-be-filming-and-when/
And of course, a picture taken with the fake throne when it comes my way

This is potentially one of the silliest thing i ever done  =)

Saturday though, is one of the hottest day since i got to Spain, as Southern Europe is getting hit with Lucifer heatwave. It was certainly not fun to be walking at 36 deg C at 2pm.

Screen capture at 2pm on Sat

I understood now why a lot of Spain old town buildings are built the way they are. Tall, near and made of stones. Eating lunch in one of the restaurants in old town, i noticed the square stayed cool, as long as the sun is at an angle, and it's difficult for the heat to penetrate to the bottom.

The building shadows explains why they built the old city this way in the Meditteranean

The Girona Cathedral is impressive, taking 600 years to build, with some uncertainty for 50 years on how to build the nave!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girona_Cathedral
And Game of Thrones fans will recognize this as where Jamie Lannister rode the horse and CiCi started the walk of shame.

Full Cathedral front with steps

Close shot of the front

Side of the Cathedral

There's a lot of treasures in the Cathedral, including the Tapestry of Creation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry_of_Creation

Leading to the outside of the church

Near to Girona is the Basilica which has one of the most impressive cloister that i have seen It reminds me of St Peters with all the marble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_de_San_F%C3%A9lix_(Girona)

The full Basilica across the River, with Cathedral in the background

Cloister in the Basilica

The other street sights of Girona

The Theater

The Pont de les Peixateries Valles by Eiffel

The city view from the Fortress wall

The Independence square, near Romb ice cream =)

The Houses with their reflection in Onyar

The Jewish quarter in Girona is one of the most well preserved big body of old town buildings. Sunday i also got free access to the Jewish Museum where the last Jewish Synagogue was located. The website explains how the Jewish came and went in Girona.
http://www.redjuderias.org/google/google_maps_print/cronologia-girona-en.html

The star of David marks the last synagogue

A calendar/clock device in the garden

As I was hunting down the filming sites for GOT, i started wandering around the Jewish quarter. It is amazingly romantic and an overall feeling of quaintness as corners to corners are so isolated. I can totally see myself walking here hand in hand with Bill after dinner =)

Steps where Arya sat Begging and what brought Girona fame in GOT

Beautiful Streets of Girona, with a painting below the archway

The Steps of Sant Mart

La Escola Pia Street

Escola D'Pia Street with sharp corners  and turns

I was really hungry by 1pm having skipped breakfast and Llevataps (where i wanted to go) wasn't opened by 115pm. I decide to eat at this place beside it and it turned out to be quite good

Decide to go for another 1-star Michelin restaurant for dinner and i picked Nu as it's close enough to walk and has decent reviews. The food is good but not as good as Etxanobe though. Basque country won this round ^_^

My Meal at Nu

This is an ice cream shop done by the one of the 3 brothers who had the best restaurant in the world. Needless to say i have to stay by and try it. It is one of the creamiest frozen yogurt i tried before. I prefer the passion fruit over the baked apple flavour. I should have tried the ice cream though as i still prefer ice cream over frozen yoghurt.
http://www.rocambolesc.com/

Patatas Bravas at Konig sandwich

Bilbao and Donostia (San Sebastian)

Basque country fun

I have heard a lot about the food in Basque country. In the middle of summer, i choose to go north to cool off =). So off to Bilbao and San Sebastian!

Bilbao

City of Bilbao, and of course the Guggenheim

With only one day, i aim for the main sights in Bilbao. On first arrival, Bilbao reminds me of London, with the weather! It drizzled and stayed gray for the whole day and I understood why Barcelonians say the weather isn't good in the basque country =)

The city shrouded in mist

Bilbao feels like a vibrant city trying to establish its identity while retaining the traditional values.

The city of Bilbao from Ercilla Hotel Roof Top Bar

It also reminds me of a Paris-wannabe but didn't quite have the vibe and buildings to pull it together in the old city. On top of that it has the modern buildings to complement the Guggenheim museum, and the entire juxtapose is random and confusing.

The theater and old city area in Bilbao

City hall with the river (and yes, i had to brighten the shot as it's so gloomy)

Taking the funicular to see the city from the hill top

Another beautiful building in Bilbao

Cathedral in Bilbao

I decide to visit one of the museum in Bilbao and i picked the Museum of Fine Arts as it has a large and complete selection of Spanish arts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilbao_Fine_Arts_Museum

Museum of Fine arts, showing the juxtaposition of old and new in the building

I decide to splurge on a Michelin star restaurant as i figured if i'm going to eat at a Michelin restaurant, the basque country is the way to go! And I have time in Bilbao for a 3 hours lunch =)
I picked Etxanobe as it has an emphasis on seafood.

Entrance to the restuarant

Interior of Etxaonobe

I had a fantastic meal, journeying through cuisine and ingredients important to the basque country in Etxanobe. It is on the list of my top 10 best meals in my life!

My lunch in Bilbao - Octopus ball, Black bean pint with bacon mousse, white truffle with almond soup, anchovy lasagna (specialty of the resturant), grilled tuna with sumec, Salmon bonbon with black rice, shrimp gel with shrimp tartare, leg of duck with tranparent potato, cod fish with squid ink, fennel mousse with strawberry wafer and tomato gel, tangerine ice cream made on the spot with nitrogen gas

San Sebastian (Donastia)

Bird's eye view of San Sebastian

It truly is unique, facing the ocean with 3 huge beautiful beaches, and surrounded by mountains. Donostia is the basque name for San Sebastian. It totally took me by surprise at how gorgeous it is.
Being small facilitates management of touristy spots which is an advantage.
San Sebastian people are also highly proud of their heritage, food and city too.
http://wikitravel.org/en/San_Sebastian

I took a bus from Bilbao and it's a little chaotic trying to figure out the bus as it's not labelled going to San Sebastian but the final destination Irun. And it turns out this bus is late when i'm going to St Sebastian and coming back to Bilbao. ^_^;

Chaos in the bus station

But it all worked out and u can see the route in the google map from Bilbar to Eibar to San Sebastian.

google map route

Woo.. First view that greeted me when i came out from the bus station

Gorgeous buildings

The theater

Street view that's very Paris-like

After gawking at the historical Paris-like building, i decide to take a pintxos tour that explain the history of this city and a lot more of it makes sense after that.
This is a city that started its life as a military fort by King Navarro. But Napolean conquered it for 2 years and it was freed by Allied military. However, the city was betrayed by the Allied army which looted the city and destroyed it completely by fire.
After that the people decide to rebuild the city, took a risk to  invest in beautiful buildings for wealthy French and Europeans to vacation there instead of a military fort. Of course, French are the wealthiest and they make the streets mimic Paris to attract their visits.
The queen of Spain declared San Sebastian to be a royal vacation site for 2 generations, which further cement tourism in the city.

Tour guide and the tour group for the Pintxos tours

The 3 tapas bar that we went, with fried cod balls, meat croquette and fish cake melt

The guide (whose name i cannot pronounce =)) told us about how the fort wall was penetrated where the current market is. And it's called La Bretxa (the hole) noting the historical moment.
The farmers sell their produce at the stands and there's some really great looking produce!
He also explained how they planted the flowers at the fort wall location at the Boulevard in remembrance to the location.

The market with farmers selling fresh produce

Row of flowers denoting the previous fort wall

Ex bull ring in the square, with numbers on each windows denoting terrace  number for patrons

View of the main playa near the city

View of the city hall with the monument at the back

View of the city hall from the front

After the pintxos tour, i took a boat tour to see the city from the ocean.

Ships Ahoy!

Gorgeous view of the city from the ocean

Having time on my hand, I roamed around the city and visited 3 more bars and ate more pintxos  =)

My favourite tapas bar Antonio Bar with shrimp crepe, squid tempura and foie

Iomba bar with foie/quail egg, mushroom pastry, shrimp with fish paste

Tapas bar with famous cheese cake

Stuffed with pintxos, i decide to climb up the city to visit the old castle. At the top, it's not hard to believe why San Sebastian was picked as a military fort. It has a great view of the city on top of the ocean. And the fort is the only place that you can see all the 3 beaches at the same time

View of the little island Santa Clara from the mountain top

View of the city at the top

Monument on top of the old castle

There's also a jazz festival at the city that weekend. I think i watched the Houston Jazz Quartet for free =) Gorgeous location for a great band

Stage for the Jazz festival by the ocean

Only in Europe, a parking garage for bike at the bus station