Barcelona: Girona Full Day Excursion
Drive along the highway to visit this important medieval city, with the Call Jewish quarter, the Bonastruc ça Porta jewish center, located in the emblematic building that housed the last synagogue of Girona, it is currently the home of the Museum of the History of the Jews and the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish studies. The Arab baths, the gothic Cathedral and the Monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants.
7 hours tour
Morning tour
No wheelchair
Light physical activity
Pick up and drop off at the Port
Included: Transportation by Deluxe Vehicle; Guided Tour; Entrance Fees
Not Included: Any meals or other services not specified.
The so-called "City of the Four Rivers", shows us a historic centre dominated by medieval buildings and reminders of Romans, Arabs and Jews. Inside the walled enclosure of "La Força Vella" you can find the culiminating works of its historical destiny. One of the rivers, the Onyar, divides the historic centre from the modern city.
The old centre of this Catalan city preserves remains of its long history, from the time it was founded by the Romans in the 1st century B. C. To them we owe its original wall, whose remains stretch from the Archaeological Walk to the Wall Gardens.
Set in this walled enclosure (La Força Vella), stands the Cathedral. Its Romanesque origin is shown in its fortress-like appearance and strategic location, although the most outstanding aspect is an immense Gothic nave, the widest in Medieval European architecture. Inside, it preserves one of the textile jewels of Catalan Romanesque, the Creation Tapestry.
Girona has other key pieces of religious architecture, like the Benedictine monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants. The convent of Sant Doménech, built in Gothic style and a clear example of the importance of the religious orders in the colonisation and repopulation of Catalonia during the Middle Ages, stands amid gardens.
Also to this historical period belong important displays of Arab and Jewish art, the result of these cultures living side-by-side with Christianity for centuries. So, you will discover the multitude of small streets making up El Call, the Jewish quarter of Girona. Calle Força is the heart of this district, which had a synagogue and centres of cabbalistic study. The Call is currently one of the best preserved Jewish quarters in Spain.
In the 12th century, Jews moved to a lower part of the city. In 1160 they were already inhabiting the Call, the name given to Jewish quarters in Catalonia. It is a name coming from Latin callis (street), which would become carrer in Catalan and calle in Spanish. In medieval times, call meant a "group of narrow streets". These paved, narrow and labirynth streets constituted the urban space where most of the Jewish population in Girona settled in the 13th and 14th centuries. The community's main body was formed by tradesmen and craftsmen: tailors, shoemakers, weavers, barbers, furriers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths and silversmiths opened their workshops in the Call´s narrow streets. Others devoted their time to medicine and astrology, while those who had the means became money-lenders. In Girona there is The Bonastruc ça Porta Centre, located in the emblematic building that housed the last synagogue of Girona, is currently the home of the Museum of the History of the Jews and the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish studies.
Not far from here, a Capuchin convent houses the Arab Baths, where we should point out a pavilion built on eight fine columns and crowned by an octagonal cupola.