Girona, A Little Spanish Gem

Myles had a ticket back to Dublin leaving from Girona. Frankly, we didn't expect much from the town and figured we'd use it for the last couple days of his time with us as a jumping off point to the northern coastal beaches. Afterall, that's what the books kept saying.. "Girona is a good jumping off point for the northern coastal beaches." But, we were pleasantly surprised by the old town of Girona and ended up skipping the coast. That's how good it was. We found a great little apartment (actually little isn't the right word it was quite spacious) right next to Girona's cathedral and enjoyed our first night with cava (Spain's champagne) and fresh strawberries.
One of Girona's charms I think comes from the fact that all the guidebooks describe Girona as a good jumping off point, it meant there were not a lot of tourists, at least English speaking tourists. A nice change from Barcelona where it was impossible to walk down Las Ramblas without hearing other north American accents besides our own. Girona had a little mini Las Ramblas of its own, where we enjoyed morning cafe con leches and afternoon grub. Girona like many other Spanish towns has a walled fortress surrounding the old city, that used to keep out invaders and now provides great views of the city.
All in all Girona not only exceeded our admittedly low expectations but easily charmed us.