LIVE from the Camino Camino de Girona/Català Fall 2024

[setmeravelles]

Here I am in Figueres, on the Camino de Girona, after finally deciding on this year’s Camino after lots of issues with plans falling apart for other Caminos. I’ll be continuing on in Montserrat on the Zaragoza variant of the Camino, saving the Huesca one for another time.

I won’t post daily most likely, but I will try to give updates or mention things that could be useful.

I arrived to Llança via train from Girona, the same one that starts in Barcelona. Being a September weekday it was kind of dead, and the port restaurants pretty expensive. I stayed near the tourist office in Gran Sol, which had a lovely huge dog who was complaining about the heat. I spent some time backpack free on GR 92 along the coast.

Friday I woke up, went to find breakfast and then started about 740. It’s a long, hard climb up to Sant Pere de Rodes (which will also be a long hard way down. Not quite as difficult as San Juan de la Peña from Jaca and down to Santa Cecelia on the Aragonés, but what is? It was worth it. With my luck I arrived just as a tourist bus did…still an amazing place.

Long, steep beautiful descent into Pau. Pau has a restaurant that opens around 1 pm but nothing else this Friday. Vilajuïga has a few options for food and coffee. I missed Pension Xavi, so not sure if it’s still an option to sleep. I just didn’t see it if it was there. I caught the bus to Figueres where I am spending two nights.

I later took the train back to Vilajuïga. This etapa (or second part of a long first day) was pleasant but nothing special. It’s almost entirely road walking or paved farm tracks, and for a Saturday there was traffic. Pedrat didn’t have anything, Mansa had a Civic Centro bar, Perelada has a few more options. I got there at the same time as the tourist bus again! I stopped in Vilabertran for coffee. I liked Vilabertran more than I thought I would, and it’s just 1.7 more to Figueres city limits on a gravel path.

Teatre Museu Dalí was so packed I couldn’t see anything…I ended up walking more this afternoon to visit the Castell Sant Ferran, which I must recommend. Huge castle and fortress a km or so above the town.

At Pensió Bartis, 35€ single with bath. Basic but clean and near the bus and regular train station. Perfect for a peregrino or peregrina.

GR 11 from Llança to Sant Pere is well marked, and so is the Camino from there so far. I haven’t seen an arrow in Figueres yet though…it’s marked on mapy.cz and I have a few Wikilocs so not too worried.

I’m glad I split it into two starting out.

 

[caminka]

I will be reading your reports with lots of interest because this camino is on my priority camino list. Thank you for all the useful details.

Bo cami! (Is this the correct catala version?)

 

[setmeravelles]

I will be reading your reports with lots of interest because this camino is on my priority camino list. Thank you for all the useful details.

Bo cami! (Is this the correct catala version?)

Close! “Bon camí” in Catalán, which I actually studied, and “gràcies” or “merci”

Let me know if there is specific information you’d like to know and I’ll try to find out.

I’m trying to comment on things I saw in the mega thread planning post, but I miss a lot, like the castle in Pontos today. (No clue how!)

Wifi spotty at Pension Fluvia tonight so will wait to update (Price update: it’s now 45€ for single with private bathroom, shared bathroom is cheaper though!)

 

[setmeravelles]

Etapa 3: Figueres to Bàscara. Road walking for about 4 km or so, then alternated with some farm tracks. Follow Carrer San Pau (I saw it as Calle San Pablo once) out of town. Markers on ground on the right side. Arrows usually there when needed.

Centre civic bar was open in Borassa on a Sunday morning! I found another path on mapy dot cz that had a nearby waterfall marked, and it looked the same distance, so on a whim I followed it. Really nice forest trail that broke the monotony of Catalan fields with mountains in the distance, and I ran into some locals. The waterfall was a short distance…and completely dry. Ah well, I still enjoyed it. The red line I was following had a small bit of bushwhacking that I could have avoided if I went the main trail to the road, but I was keen on the red line. Happy to see on the actual Camino after that spontaneous detour.

Bridge into Bàscara doesn’t seem to end.

The entire family was helping out for Sunday lunch at Pensió Fluvia. Menu was 21, but I had a good Plato combinado instead for 11€. They close the bar on evenings and on Mondays. The Bar Plaza in the main plaza is open Sun and has food.

There are two variants out of Bàscara. More later as I’m pretty tired. I hope this makes sense through my exhaustion!

I’m enjoying this Camino, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like a Camino for whatever reason. I’m currently in Girona, and I asked how to get to the Carrilet and then eventually explained that I was actually doing the Camino. The guy was impressed (he knew about it) and said he didn’t think it was marked (it isn’t in Girona city as peregrina2000 explained in her post). I said it was way better marked than some parts of the Olvidado, and he was really interested in that one.