{"id":1489,"date":"2022-06-24T16:10:54","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T16:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2025-02-05T19:32:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:32:19","slug":"coming-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/24\/coming-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Girona"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I left Barcelona by high-speed train bound for Girona.&nbsp; The 120-mph train journey took 40 minutes and cost about $20.&nbsp; That\u2019s a bargain in my book.&nbsp; Not much to see along the way \u2013 lots of tunnels, some hilly terrain, and that\u2019s about it.&nbsp; But Girona is a real breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_065157-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1509\" width=\"-453\" height=\"-604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_065157-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_065157-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_065157-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_065157-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_065157-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption>Girona&#8217;s Medieval Wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Girona is cooler than Barcelona.&nbsp; Girona has a nice breeze.&nbsp; Girona has a population of 100,000.&nbsp; The Barcelona metropolitan area has a population of around 5.5 million people.&nbsp; Ah, elbow room.&nbsp; The town dates from Roman times (around 100 BCE), but it\u2019s mostly medieval.&nbsp; Cathedrals from the 11<sup>th<\/sup> century, medieval walls (from the 14<sup>th<\/sup> and 15<sup>th<\/sup> centuries, which you can walk), and lots of stone buildings and narrow streets.&nbsp; All pretty cool.&nbsp; The old city is well kept, and the few buildings in need are under renovation.&nbsp; Outside of the old city, is modern Girona with all you\u2019d expect from a modern city.&nbsp; And, like in Barcelona, it is clean and almost graffiti free (mostly confined to surfaces that can easily be cleaned or repainted).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_071407-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1510\" width=\"275\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_071407-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_071407-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_071407-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_071407-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220624_071407-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px\" \/><figcaption> Caterdral de Girona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I arrived in Girona on Thursday.&nbsp; Friday was the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.&nbsp; Those who are closely following Liturgical Feasts, will know, naturally, that the event is marked by fireworks throughout the days and nights preceding the celebration.&nbsp; Fireworks is an odd word for Americans to describe the thing.&nbsp; We might say firecrackers, but they are more accurately described as sticks of death.&nbsp; Think demolition.&nbsp; Explosions throughout the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist is marked with processions through the streets and, of course, with everyone taking the day off.&nbsp; Shops are closed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I left Barcelona by high-speed train bound for Girona.&nbsp; The 120-mph train journey took 40 minutes and cost about $20.&nbsp; That\u2019s a bargain in my book.&nbsp; Not much to see along the way \u2013 lots of tunnels, some hilly terrain, and that\u2019s about it.&nbsp; But Girona is a real breath of fresh air. Girona is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions\/1511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downhilltravel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}