The city of Girona is on the foothills of the Pyrenees. On this excursion you will discover the Pirineu Gironí through the counties of La Garrotxa and El Ripollès.
Departure from Girona is at nine in the morning and after about thirty-five minutes we will arrive to the medieval village of Castellfollit de la Roca where you can see its famous basalt cliff.
We will continue our journey crossing the Vall de Bianya and the tunnels of Capsacosta until Sant Joan de les Abadesses where we will visit its medieval Bridge, the remains of the old church and its historical old part.
We will continue until Ripoll, where we will visit the monastery of Ripoll, one of the jewels of the Catalan Romanesque. In the monastery we will stop to observe its famous Romanesque portal, its cloister and the tombs of the counts Guifré el Pelós (considered the father of the Catalan homeland), Ramon Berenguer III (count of the house of Barcelona), Ramon Berenguer IV (count from Casal de Barcelona and Bernat Tallaferro (count of Besalú).
For lunch, we will go to Ogassa, an old mining colony in the middle of the Pyrenees where you will enjoy the typical Catalan cuisine.
In returning to Girona, we will take the old road from Olot to Ripoll and we will take a short break in Vallfogona de Ripollés to visit its medieval center and the castle of the Milany house.
We will arrive in Girona between six and seven in the evening.
Guest Hotel, Girona train station or any desired point.
Miquel was a great guide, knowledgeable about the area we visited, funny, opiniated, happy to listen to our opinions and input. We spent a wonderful day visiting the Dali house in Port Lligat, and because we had visited Cadaques before Miquel took us to Selva where the seaside town was less busy than Cadaques, recommended a great local restaurant, and then drove us around the wonderful scenic area before getting us to the rail station for our trip to Tarragona. Thank you for a great day!
by Nicholas Truelson
Miquel was extremely warm and had a wonderful sense of humor. It felt like he tuned into our group immediately and was able to blend the old and the new with a very firm sense of Jewish history. In addition he finished off with a tour of non-Jewish Girona which was just as interesting. Woderful day!
by Joshua Schor
Unlike tours which involve driving, Miquel's tour to the volcanic park included lots of walking (and climbing, in the case of our girls). Unexpected extras included visiting two well-preserved Middle-Age villages, learning about 700 yrs old Jeweish sites and eating at an authentic rustic restaurant. Miquel has lived all over the world, so his perspective as a native of Girona/Catalonia is very unique.
by Diana Jelescu
