Girona

120km north of Barcelona....that is where you will find Girona. Blanca, my friend that I got to know on the ship and lives in Barcelona, recommended that we go there for the day. She checked train schedules and on Thursday we met her and made our way to Girona.....we visited the old town, which is truely beautiful, small, and it reminded me a little of an old town in Italy....different...but similar.

The train took 40min, it was a high speed train, going around 200km/hr....so very convenient....of course the first thing i wanted to see was the famous bridge which all the pics are from....and what a view going over the bridge, all the colourful houses, beautiful....

Walking into the old town

Walking over bridge into old town, one can see the cathedral in the background

Blanca, me and Sofia crossing the famous bridge into the old town

In the old town we did some shopping...believe it or not I found amazing shops with amazing clothes...and when i can find clothes...i need to buy...cause i am not a fan of shopping for clothes or shoes, so when i am in the mood and when i find...i definitely have to go for it....the brand is called ese o ese (i must admit there is also an amazing clothing store in Barcelona, right near Palau de Musica, not sure what the name is...but i buy all my jeans there....and this time was no exception)....anyway...so yes...i did clothes shopping....

We also stopped for some cappuccino as you might remember from my previous blog...and looked at the cathedral....we did not go in, but we did climb all the stairs to get a view from the top.....

Cathedral

Old town

After walking and exploring...Blanca told us we are going for some lunch...which would be followed by the most famous ice cream place...called Rocambolesc, it is owned by the Roca family who has the number one restaurant in the WORLD....so yes...we needed to try it...definitely...but first lunch at a casual and very non-touristy place....a place frequented by the locals...and that is what we wanted...sitting outside on the piaza...enjoying the sun, Spanish tapas, Cava and Sangria....yummie....

Now of course i need to share some pics....we had fried artichokes, grilled octopus, jamon Iberico, tomato bread, sausage sticks, deep fried mozzarella sticks and french fries mixed with egg...oh yes...almost forgot patatas bravas.....

Deep fried artichokes

Octopus with paprika

After lunch....which was a long occassion....we had to try this famous ice cream place....Visions of the Pied piper of Hamelin or the Child catcher on Chitty Chitty bang bang teased children magically across the street towards the shop entrance. Once inside they became the latest victims of Jordi Rocas spell. The Willy Wonka styled ice cream shop better known as `Rocambolesc` by the Roca Brothers. Jordi Roca , `El Celler de can Rocas` Pastry chef created this shop and his wild imaginative sweet fantasies were in top gear when doing so.

Shop

Ice cream tubs

There isnt a large choice of flavours here so dont go expecting a hair pulling exercise as theres only 6 to choose from…. They only do a small amount of flavours but they do them well….extremely well. 4 ice creams and 2 Sorbets. We hade chocolate, vanilla, baked apple, yoghurt, green sorbet and the last one I do not remember....

The twist in the tale comes from the 34 toppings and this is where you will definitely pull your hair out trying to decide which ones to go for....here are some of them....

Toppings

They do not only have ice creams in cones or cups....you can also have this special ice cream in like a dough....have a look at this.....

Dough type thing with ice cream

So...we needed to try both....i had the cone with baked apple ice cream and almond sprinkles....quite boring...but i wanted the real taste of the ice cream...looking back...i regret not taking more time to choose my toppings....the ice cream was good....but for me way too rich....it was very very creamy....but i a, so glad i tried it....the dough type was also yummie...it was very different...and i would definitely go for that rather than just the ice cream cause the dough made the richness more subtle.....one can also add toppings into the dough...quite exciting....let me share some pics....

Baked apple ice cream on a cone with almond slivers

Dough filled with vanilla ice cream

When we got back to Barcelona we struggled to get home cause there was a huge parade again and crossing over streets was almost impossible...so we decided to watch and enjoy a lottle before heading for dinner....let me share one last pic from the parade before i finish this blog....then it is cheers from me...chat soon...

Parade

 

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