Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Girona

I was lucky enough to get to go back to Girona for a couple of weeks between races to try and get in some good training in the sunshine. Being that it's the place I've spent most of my time since getting to Europe, it felt like coming 'home' and I was happy to be there, even though most of the people I knew were away racing. Getting the chance to chill out by myself was quite nice, and gave me the chance to do a bit of exploring.

Beautiful blue skies and sunshine around Girona. Except for the few days when it was like a Melbourne winter..

Exploring the coastline from Tossa de Mar
One thing I've noticed about Girona and staying in the Old Town, is the Church bells. It's hard not to notice them. They chime every hour, on the hour, twice. Plus they also signal the quarter hour, 24/7. I did some googling to find out the reason they chime on the hour, and then 2 minutes later, and it turns out it's because back in the day, before wristwatches and iPhones, if you were out in the field working you might have missed the first ring and wouldn't know the time. So 2 minutes later, the time chimes again. That way you've never got an excuse to be home late for dinner! I like that thinking. So there's your Spanish history lesson for the day!

One of the other great things about Girona is the Creperies. There's about 5 or 6 of them, and most of them serve Glutard friendly Crepes! My favourite would have to be the Banana and 'Black' chocolate one I had from Crepedeque, where Lotti the dog resides with his owners who have been making crepes since forever. Thankfully the riding around the area is amazing so you can work off all the crepes!
Crepes!
I'd splurged a bit and got a car for the time I was there, otherwise I had no way of getting home from the airport when I arrived. It meant that I could meet Jo at the airport when she came back from Lux though, and we headed straight to one of my favourite places ever, the Boqueria Markets in Barcelona, for brunch. The Tortilla was even better than I remembered it to be and I can't wait to go back again for another one.
A happy place
Getting to have a pre-Birthday dinner on Thursday night with Jo, Loren & Carlee, before jetting back off to Belgium early Friday morning was so nice. Nothing like getting to spend your almost birthday with good friends on the other side of the world! Now it's back to Belgium for some more racing and to move in to home, which is where I am now.. Belgium update to come later!
Dinner (and colouring in) with the girls

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