Day 23 Learning more about Girona

We were hoping to bike today, but the forecast said rain - totally wrong, it was a lovely day.

We headed off first to Cycle Tours to book bikes for Wed & Thurs, then to our fav nearby park - Devesa. The workout stations here, like in Bordeaux, are well used. Wish I’d taken a video of the amazing « tricks » the guys were doing here.

From there we wandered along the outside of the wall, then stopped at the base of the Catedral for drinks and people watching.

A group of young university students approached us. Seems they were on a type of scavenger hunt. With our broken Spanish, and their limited English, and lots of laughs, they said they’d give us a paper clip in exchange for something we had. The only thing we could quickly find was a straw from the cafe. They seemed delighted, took pics of us and headed off. I, of course, got pics of them - a fun encounter.

Although I’ve been taking pics of the street leading to our place, and we’ve seen lots of guided tours there, I didn’t realize the significance of it. It seems that flies are revered here, and have an historical significance. Right next to our place is Hotel Museu Llegendes de Girona and Salvador Dali Museum, with a huge fly on the wall. Around the corner is a street called Cerrer De Les Mosques (flies)

Researching a bit it seems that Girona has been attacked 25 times and captured at least 7 times. During the French siege in 1286, soldiers ransacked the entire city including the churches. They tore open the tomb of Saint Narcis and a swarm of flies flew out of the tomb and attached the French causing them to retreat. There’s a festival every Oct 29 to celebrate this.

According to the myths here, if we kiss the “ass” of the lioness, and touch one of the Sant Narcis flies we will be granted “miracles” . . . . Stay tuned . . .Read more