One of the benefits of living in Bournemouth, apart from having 7 miles of the best sandy beach on the South Coast, is having an "international" airport on our doorstep. OK, the word international might be pushing things a bit when compared to Heathrow or Gatwick, but I don't care as long as we can easily jump on a plane and head off on a break.
Ryanair always have some good deals going on to Dublin and Girona. This time we chose Girona (also known as Gerona). It cost us £107 this time but it can been less than half that if you get the right deal. Anyway, even at that price it is peanuts to get to another country. Cheaper than a peak-time return by train to London.
I used Expedia.co.uk to find a hotel and came up with Hotel Costabella. This is on the very edge of Girona, opposite the hospital. It is a 15 minute walk or so, but we found it very welcome seeing as we ate and drank loads so it would be our little bit of exercise for our sins.
The hotel was very good value in my view and had good facilities. I had brought my laptop and the fact that free wi-fi access was included meant I could check my e-mails and even search on things like train times and places to visit whilst I was there.
Unfortunately we had been burgled recently before the trip so I didn't have a digital camera to take decent photos of the place as usual.
The flight is only about 1 hour from Bournemouth to Girona. We could have got a taxi from the rank but I did a search on the Internet and found shuttledirect.com and booked a transfer with them. There was someone waiting for us, holding up a board with our names on just after arrivals. Outside was a nice Mercedes and away we went. It cost 43 Euros. Actually, I don't know if that is more expensive that just walking outside and queueing up. It might not be but then again I knew it was all sorted, including the return. For the return we did have to be ready to get picked up 3 hours before departure time which I thought was a bit early but then again it probably gave them the opportunity for another pick ups.
The town is only about 30 minutes away. The hotel was modern and clean. There are not much in terms of views from the rooms. We had one that faced into the hill. The room had air-conditioning, TV and a good sized bathroom. There is a small swimming pool outside the hotel and we managed to use it one day when it was quite hot.
Breakfast wasn't included in our deal but we did stay in one night had a buffet dinner which at 15 Euros was fantastic value especially when compared to the really bad place we went to on the first night which was the same price. Also, the wine prices were very reasonable as well. We had a bottle that was about 8 or 9 Euros. Most places we went to in town would start about 15 Euros. For a hotel, the meal and wine was spot on.
After a few minutes walk towards town there is a large supermarket that you can go for your water. We got bottles of spirits and tinned food to bring back to the UK from here. Further along there is a small bar that opens early (apart from on Sunday) where you can get a coffee and sandwich or croissant for breakfast. Follow the road past the cinema, over one river, past the park and then you are in Girona town centre.
We wondered what that large open space next to the park was for. We found out on Sunday that it was pack full of men and women playing boules (or whatever the Spanish call it).
After this open space there is a large roundabout. If you follow the path around to the right there is a small park and a pond for a nice stroll. You will see large flyover going over the road and roundabout. It wasn't until a few days later I realised this was for the trains. Getting the train into Barcelona is pretty straightforward and takes just over an hour if I can recall properly. You just have to walk about 15 minutes to the right from this roundabout to get to the train station.
If you carry on across this roundabout you will approach the Placa Independcia. This is a square with many restaurants around it. It is just next to the river and has a small bridge nearby. There are roads leading off it that lead to rows of shops.
We only ate at one place here which was at the place called "Tapas Bar" with the yellow shop banner in the North East corner of the square. I'm sure all the other places are just as nice. It did look like a tourist trap area to me initially but I don't think it is that bad after all. Next time we will try out one or two of these places.
Before you turn into the main square, there is a restaurant called Largada on Av. Ramon Folch which is a grill restaurant. We went there one night. Interesting place. There was a Spanish woman who really kicked off when her steak arrived. Actually the waitress delivered it to our table first, but I had to explain that I ordered the duck. The steak did look pretty awful. Angela ordered either a sirloin or fillet steak from the menu, but what came did not look like what we expect in the UK. What that woman got looked very rough and lots of gristle. She kept on picking it up in the air with her fork and then letting it drop onto the plate muttering her discontent. She was very wild. We ducked our heads until things calmed down.
I wouldn't say the presentation was as nice as some restaurants but I guess you need to take into context that the duck and steak we ordered were about £6 to £8 as a main course and not the £15 that you can expect to pay in the UK, where even at that price it can be mediocre as well. I fancied getting the tray of snails but it was a bit much for just one person from what I could see. They had a good range of stuff on their menu so worth trying if you need a meat fix.
From the Placa Independcia it's only a stone's throw to the river where you will see the coloured buildings that line that part of the river. This is especially beautiful towards the end of the day when the soft sunlight falls upon the pastel shades. There are many bridges over the rivers to walk across and look downstream.
