Girona

Exit the walls near Jardins dels Alemanys and walk south for two minutes until the immense baroque staircase appears — 86 stone steps rising to the widest Gothic nave ever built at 22.98 meters, broader than Notre-Dame or Milan's Duomo. This is the Great Sept of Baelor from Game of Thrones, and in mid-morning the staircase is still quiet enough to claim as your own. Stand at the bottom for the full theatrical scale, then climb slowly: each landing reveals a deeper view over the old town rooftops behind you.

Tip: The most dramatic photo angle is dead center at the base of the staircase, shooting straight up with a wide lens — this is the framing the show's cinematographers used. At the top, turn around: the rooftop panorama stretching to the Pyrenees is the shot most visitors forget to take. If you change your mind about interiors, the museum houses the 11th-century Tapestry of Creation and tickets are €7.

From the Cathedral's south flank, take Carrer de la Força — the medieval main street of Girona's Jewish community — and let gravity pull you downhill through stone corridors so narrow two people can barely pass. El Call thrived here from the 9th to 15th century and is now one of the most intact Jewish quarters in Europe. Every turn reveals an arch, a hidden courtyard, or a staircase that dead-ends in another century. Halfway down on your left sits the Centre Bonastruc ça Porta, the former synagogue and community heart, its courtyard still hushed and contemplative.

Tip: Branch east off Carrer de la Força into Carrer de Sant Llorenç — barely a meter wide, dead silent, and completely missed by the crowds funneling straight down the main alley. This is the single most atmospheric passage in El Call and the best place to feel what it was like to live here seven centuries ago.

Emerge from El Call's southern end onto Carrer de Santa Clara and the whimsical storefront of Rocambolesc appears on your right. This is Jordi Roca's walk-up outpost — the youngest of the three brothers behind El Celler de Can Roca, repeatedly crowned the world's best restaurant. The format is street-food fast: a signature ice cream cone sculpted with wild toppings like caramelized olive oil and toasted pine nuts (€5.50), or a layered crêpe with house-made chocolate and seasonal fruit (€7). It is not a sit-down lunch, and that is the point — Girona's culinary identity distilled into something you eat standing on a medieval sidewalk.

Tip: Skip the display menu and ask the staff what is new — Jordi Roca rotates experimental flavors that never make the signboard. If you need something more substantial first, grab a bocadillo de jamón at any of the cafés lining Rambla de la Llibertat one block west, then come back here for dessert. Budget an extra €5-8 for the sandwich.

Walk one block west to the Onyar riverbank and Girona's most famous image appears — a wall of ochre, terracotta, and sky-blue houses rising straight from the water like a Catalan Cinque Terre. Cross onto the Pont de les Peixateries Velles, a slender red iron bridge built by the Eiffel company in 1877 — twelve years before they raised their tower in Paris. At its center the houses mirror perfectly in the river below, and the afternoon light turns the warm facades incandescent against the cool water. Walk slowly across all four pedestrian bridges to see how the palette shifts with every angle.

Tip: The best photo is from Pont de Sant Agustí looking south — you get both banks of colorful houses with the Cathedral tower rising in the background. On your way between bridges, stop at the Lleona sculpture on Pont de Sant Feliu and touch the stone lioness — legend says it guarantees your return to Girona. After the bridges, the Rambla de la Llibertat on the east bank has shaded terrace cafés perfect for resting until dinner.

Cross the Pont de Pedra to Plaça de la Independència — Girona's grand neoclassical square ringed by arcaded buildings — and take a table at Casa Marieta, feeding this city since 1884. The kitchen does Catalan comfort food with no shortcuts: start with the escalivada, fire-roasted peppers and eggplant drizzled in arbequina olive oil (€9), then the botifarra amb mongetes — a thick grilled Catalan sausage with slow-cooked white beans (€14), the dish every Gironí grew up eating. Budget €25-35 per person with wine. The terrace seats facing the square fill fast after 20:00, so arriving at 19:00 gets you the best spot and no wait.

Tip: Resist the string of flashy restaurants ringing the rest of the square — several are tourist-oriented with inflated prices and microwaved ingredients. Casa Marieta's longevity is not nostalgia, it is consistency. If the terrace is full, the dining room upstairs has arched windows overlooking the square and is often half-empty early in the evening. Order the crema catalana for dessert — it originated in this region, and theirs sets the standard.

From the Centre Bonastruc ça Porta, walk north along Carrer de la Força — in two minutes you emerge at the foot of the famous 86-step Baroque staircase, the same steps used as the Great Sept of Baelor in Game of Thrones. At the top waits the widest Gothic nave in the world at 22.98 meters — wider than any in France or Italy. The Treasury holds the 11th-century Tapestry of Creation, an embroidered cosmological masterpiece that alone justifies the visit. Arriving right at opening means you'll have the immense nave nearly to yourself; by noon the echo of tour groups fills the space.

Tip: Buy the combined ticket (nave + museum + cloister) at the entrance — it's only a euro or two more and the Romanesque cloister is exceptional. For the best photo of the nave's staggering scale, stand flush against the back wall and shoot straight down the center axis with a wide lens.

Descend the Cathedral steps and follow Carrer de la Força south past the Jewish Quarter, then turn right at Carrer Cort Reial — you'll spot the pintxos spread through the window within three minutes. This Basque-style pintxos bar is where Girona's office workers crowd in for a standing lunch: the counter piled high with skewered bites, each one a small work of art. Choose whatever catches your eye and the bartender tallies your toothpicks at the end — fast, social, and exactly how locals eat when hungry and short on time.

Tip: Pair a cold txakoli (Basque white wine, ~€3) with the bacalao croqueta (€2.50) and the anchovy-and-pepper gilda (€2.50). Arrive before 13:00 or you'll fight for counter space. Budget €12–18 per person.

Walk back up Carrer de la Força, then right on Carrer Ferran el Catòlic — the Arab Baths are a five-minute uphill stroll past the Cathedral apse, with rooftop views opening up along the way. Despite the name, this is a 12th-century Romanesque bathhouse inspired by Roman and Moorish designs, not actually Arab-built. The apodyterium — a vaulted hall with an octagonal pool ringed by slender columns beneath a natural skylight — is the most photogenic room in all of Girona. The afternoon sun filters through the central oculus and catches the steam-worn stone in warm gold.

Tip: The iconic photo is taken from the left-side doorway, shooting diagonally across the pool to catch the skylight reflection in the water. The upper-level garden terrace has a hidden view of the Cathedral apse that most visitors skip — take the stairs at the back of the building.

Exit the baths and walk two minutes downhill along Carrer Ferran el Catòlic, then left on Pujada de Sant Feliu — the basilica's distinctive truncated bell tower appears at the bottom of the Cathedral steps. Older than the Cathedral itself, Sant Feliu was Girona's first cathedral and holds eight early Christian sarcophagi from the 3rd–4th century, still embedded in the chancel walls. The bell tower lost its spire to lightning in 1581 and was never rebuilt — a beautiful imperfection that has become the city's most recognizable silhouette.

Tip: Outside the entrance, find the Lleona de Girona — a small stone lioness climbing a column. Tradition says you must kiss the lion's rear to guarantee your return to Girona. After the visit, take the free afternoon to decompress along the river or grab an aperitif on Plaça de Sant Feliu. Avoid the overpriced terrace restaurants on Carrer de la Força near the tourist office — they charge double for half the quality that any side-street bar delivers.

From Sant Feliu, walk through Plaça de Sant Feliu and cross the Onyar via Pont de Sant Feliu — Plaça de la Independència opens up five minutes along the west bank, ringed by neoclassical arcades glowing in the evening light. Casa Marieta has occupied the same corner since 1892, making it the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Girona. The dining room feels like stepping into your Catalan grandmother's house if she had impeccable taste — linen tablecloths, tile floors, and plates of food that haven't changed in a generation because they never needed to.

Tip: Order the botifarra amb mongetes (Catalan sausage with white beans, ~€14) — it's the house signature and the definitive version in Girona. Finish with crema catalana (~€6) torched to order. Budget €25–35 with wine. Reserve for 19:30 on weekends; weekdays you can walk in. If you booked El Celler de Can Roca months ahead (2 km west), lucky you — for everyone else, Casa Marieta is where Girona's soul lives.