Figueres & Girona

EGGS on Dali Museum

Ah I am late on this blog post, but I must write a post before I go to Dublin this upcoming weekend (AH CAN’T WAIT TO GO/SEE MANDY). In Barcelona news: last Wednesday I went to Sutton for the first time and loved it. This club is walking distance from my apartment and had great music—I must return in the near future (and I have no idea why it took me this long to finally go there). Then on Thursday we tried a new tapas place in Gracia called Sol Soler, and it had the cutest little quiches and yummy croquetas. This was the perfect place for a cheap/quick bite.

However, the main event of last week was our program’s overnight trip to Figueres and Girona. On Saturday morning our group met at 8:30am to venture to Figueres. After a short snooze on the bus, we arrived in Figueres and had time for a little breakfast and much needed coffee. Becca and I made the mistake of getting a chocolate muffin, which was essentially chocolate cake. Don’t get me wrong, the muffin was delicious, but the chocolate fudge inside was a little to rich for 10am. After getting some caffeine into our system, we were ready to check out the Salvador Dali Museum.

The Face of Mae West

Teatre-Museu Dali was probably the best museum I have ever been to. For starters, I LOVE the giant eggs that are on top of the museum—they are so cool. The entire museum was so obscure and captivating, and I love the fact that Dali was alive to design the museum. I am also grateful that I am taking Spanish culture/art classes, and I had already learned about surrealism, Dali, and some of his famous works. Experiencing Dali’s art in person was truly incredible. There is such a variety in his art, making it impossible to be bored. We also had access to the Dali Jewel museum, which had his beautiful/whimsical jewelry.

Some highlights from the museum were: seeing/experiencing “The Face of Mae West”, the art collection displaying his technical skill (beyond just surrealism), and seeing a version of MELTY CLOCKS—yes, I know the real name is “The Persistence of Memory”, but I still love to call it Metly Clocks.

Version of "The Persistence of Memory"

*Fun random fact about “Persistence of Memory”: The melting appearance of the watches in this painting was inspired by melting cheese. Hehe

Melty clock mug!

After the museum we ate lunch in Figueres and were able to explore a little. I am not ashamed to mention that I also purchased a mug with the Dali melting watch as a handle. Yet another great mug to add to the shelf :)

Then we hopped on the bus to go to Lake Banyoles. We had a bike tour around this pretty lake and got to enjoy the great views. We were #blessed because the rain stopped and the sun came out just in time. Our tour guide was a little crazy (and loved to take pictures of us on his phone…) but we had a blast. Even though 1 person fell off their bike & 2 bike chains broke, we still managed to make it back in one piece.

                                                               

At this point we were exhausted, and were able to sleep a little on the bus on our way to Girona. We checked into our hotel and had the evening free. Becca, Mara, and I went to a little pizza place for dinner and then rested so we could make it out to bar with everyone at night. We pre-gamed with white rum (which I not-so-happily chased with my left over pizza…bleh) and then met everyone at DO Taverna Catalana. At the bar we shared this one drink (I swear it was skippy) in this glass-kettle-jar-thing and it had a thin spout for pouring the drink right into your mouth—you know for all them classy peeps. We chilled for a little and watched tennis (hahahah, I was into it) and then went night night.

Beautiful Girona

The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel and then we all met up for our walking tour of Girona. Margarita, our tour guide, was awesome. She was so trendy, and we learned a ton about Girona. The city reminded me of Barcelona, but just a lot more quaint. The Eiffel Bridge was beautiful, and overlooked a bunch of happy/colorful apartments. We also walked around the Jewish Quarter and learned some history of the area and about how they had to secretly practice their religion during the Spanish Inquisition (which was founded in 1478), unti; they were expelled from Spain in 1492—my girl Nuria has taught me well. Next, we visited the Cathedral of Girona, which was beautiful (but very cold with the wind). We also went to the Passieg de la Muerella, which gave us some stunning views of the city. We finished the tour at the lioness’ butt, which Margarita told us that we were supposed to kiss for good luck. While some people were adventurous and kissed the butt, I did not (there is no time to be a sickling while abroad).

Once the tour was over we went to a restaurant for a wonderful/excessive lunch. I started with a cod/potato soup (which was creamy and grand), followed by black risotto (mmmm), and then a carrot/ chocolate cake for dessert. We were beyond stuffed, but we still had to go to the famous gelato place, Rocambolesc. This gelato place is famous for putting their gelato in these amazing buns, sealing the buns, and creating a gelato sandwich (also called a “panet”). Helena also paid for mine because I sent her pictures of Barcelona so I HAD to get the gelato sandiwch (even though I was so full). The gelato sandwich lived up to all of the hype. I got vanilla with caramel crunchies, a brownies, and chocolate sauce. I was in heaven. I miss that sandwich.

The amazing "panet"

After a sad goodbye to Girona [and my gelato sandwich] I got on the bus and went back to Barcelona. It was a great weekend with some great peeps (St. Jordis chillin was reunited after many weekends apart) and I highly recommend people going to check out Girona and definitely see the Dali museum!