December 5th, 2019
When I woke up this morning there were two other ladies in my dorm room that were also getting ready for the day. One was from Russia and one was from France. Neither of them spoke English and just a little Spanish. It was quite interesting trying to communicate in Spanish as our common language. They were both very nice and it turned out the lady from France had a car and was doing a road trip down the coast making her way to Southern Spain. Her next stop was Valencia which she said was really nice and asked if I wanted to go with her. Although this sounded like a fun adventure, I had not seen the town of Girona yet as it was dark when I arrived last night. I told her I wasn’t ready to move to the next town yet but appreciated the offer.
I really needed to do laundry and from what I could understand in Spanish from the housekeeper, it was kind of a self-service thing. She helped me start the load and told me to come back in an hour to put the clothes into the dryer. So, I walked around the town for a bit before coming back to put the clothes in the dryer.
The weather was pretty crappy and it was still early in the day when I switched the clothes to the dryer. I thought this would be a better day for indoor activities opposed to walking around the town more. I set out for the train station and caught a train to Figures which is where the famous Salvador Dali museum is. It was about an hour-long train ride and it went through really beautiful countryside. I was surprised to see snow capped mountains in the background but then realized how far north I was and those were probably the mountains that border France.
I got off in Figures and it was another really cute Spanish town like Girona. I was reminded how much I have liked everywhere I have been in Europe as it is easy to get around and always a great place to walk. Unlike many other places we have been on this trip, it is easy to walk around cities in Europe as no one bothers you. You are free to walk around slowly, admiring the buildings and architecture without being bombarded with pushy people trying to sell you something or get money from you. I enjoyed walking through town and Christmas markets to get to the Salvador Dali museum.
The museum was a trip. Dali is a Surrealist artist that is really “out there”. Although his art was not necessarily the style I would be drawn to, he did have some super interesting pieces and the museum was definitely entertaining. It was really big and took some time to go through.
After the museum I walked back to the train station and stopped in a few cute boutique type shops along the way. This was when I realized “siesta” is a very real thing and it is not at all uncommon for shops and restaurants to be closed for a period of time in the middle of the day.
I got back to Girona and went out for my first real meal in Spain. I went to a recommended place and ordered cheesy potatoes brava and a veggie burger. Potatoes brava was my first tapas experience and little did I know at the time, but these potatoes were the best potato brava dish I had in Spain. They were covered in a four-cheese sauce and had just a hint of spice to them. I kept ordering them during the rest of my time in Spain but they were never again as good as the ones I got from this particular restaurant in Girona. I took my food to go and ate back at the hostel in front of the nice fire they make in the evenings.
